


I Am Me

by Skye_Willows



Series: The Dreamscape Saga [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom, matthias - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Mystery, Psychological Drama, Suspense, Trapped-in game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 22:50:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 74,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15129449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Willows/pseuds/Skye_Willows
Summary: A year after their escape from the Dreamscape Matt begins to act strangely. Realising the answer to restoring him lies in that digital world Mark and Jack return, only to realise it is not the same.In a futuristic realm of nightmares, they have to save Matt before they are lost themselves.





	1. One Year On

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also posted on Fanfiction.net, and more extensive author notes can be found there.
> 
> So this is part 2 of the Dreamscape saga. It is highly recommended that everyone reading this story has read the first part of the series: Mirror, Mirror, or else a lot of this will not make sense! While in theory it is possible to read this story in isolation, I would seriously encourage all readers to have read the complete series up to this point before starting I Am Me.

It was another early spring day, not long past midday, and Mark shivered as he came back in the house from walking Chica. The weather was unseasonably cold for March in California and he was cursing the fact he still had to wear a jacket when taking his beloved dog out for a walk. She skipped around the house excitedly as soon as they were back, and Mark couldn't blame her: she was feeding off his own enthusiasm. The upcoming three weeks were going to be great, and he was desperately looking forward to them.

Mark wandered through the house to his recording room and took a moment to examine all the photos which had become an integral part of his newly revamped space. After their excursion to the Dreamscape just over a year ago, Mark had turned his channel in a slightly new direction. While he still played lots of games, he had begun to focus much more on doing collaborative work with many people across YouTube. He'd reconnected with old friends, made many new ones, and solidified many bonds which had maybe slipped away slightly in the time before. His experiences within the digital world had changed his outlook on life, and he kept pushing himself to achieve all he could.

He briefly closed his eyes as he thought back to a year ago, when his life was completely turned upside down. When everything changed.  _When I realised I couldn't let life simply pass me by anymore._

Returning to reality had led to a lot of changes for Mark, Jack and Matt. They had spent the remainder of their time at Digitalia doing as much research as they could for when they eventually left the abandoned base, and planning for the future. When they left that little bubble, there were going to be a lot of questions which they needed answers to. Between them, they had managed to not only find the way to communicate with players inside the Dreamscape – meaning they could speak to Alix from the outside world – but also learn many of the mechanics of the vast world created, with her help.

They had soon discovered that Glaysha was the only simulation anywhere near completion, no doubt due to Damien's plans, but there were four others which at least had been started. Three of them were nothing more than basic foundations, but there had been one other which had at least been given a vague landscape. Between the YouTubers working on the outside and Alix on the inside, they realised that no-one had worked on any of the other simulations past when Alix had been trapped. A bit of digging through the security archives confirmed their conclusions, and they had discovered something sinister within those tapes. They had learned that Damien had the ability to travel from his host at will, and they realised he had done it many times in the lead up to their little misadventure.

Mark had come to a stunning conclusion upon closer inspection of the timings of Damien disappearing: it was always around the same time Chica had been barking at the tree in his back yard. She had somehow sensed Damien's presence, and had been trying to keep him away. Mark had made sure to spoil her rotten when he returned home.

Returning to their normal lives had been surreal for Mark, Jack and Matt. All three of the them had been forever changed by their experiences inside the Dreamscape, and even a year later they still carried the signs. Some much more obvious than others.

Mark opened his eyes again and smiled at the photos on the wall – they had been the biggest change to his life. After nearly losing so much at Damien's hands, he had been determined to live to the fullest and experience as much as he could. The ones within his recording space were all of him and his friends during various work projects and vacations they had taken together over the years, though many of them were from the past year. His smile grew at several from Wade and Molly's wedding, remembering what a brilliant day that was. He could spend all day looking at these images, they never failed to remind him just why it was he kept going.

Knowing he had to get some work done, he went to his desk and sat down, but not before he looked at the photos he kept next to him during all of his recordings. They were the ones that meant the most to him: his family, a group shot from when he went on tour with Wade, Bob, Ethan and Tyler, and lastly a photo that he, Matt and Jack had taken together when they left Digitalia a year ago. Their adventure together had created a deep bond, one Mark knew would mean more to him than any other. Matt and Jack knew about Damien, about the threat he could (and probably would) pose again someday. And they would willingly stand next to him if he needed help. It was more than Mark could ever hope to ask for.

Mark's phone pinged at him from his pocket and he took it out, staring suspiciously when he saw it was a message from Jack. The Irishman had said he was going to be busy for the last couple of days before he was due to travel out to stay with Mark over the next three weeks, and Mark couldn't help but be curious as to the sudden message. He turned his gaze to the hall in confusion when he heard Chica start barking excitedly and stood up to see what had caught her attention. When he reached the living room he saw her bounding around outside the front door, just about able to make out a silhouette through the patterned glass. "Huh…I don't have any deliveries due…" he wondered out loud before wandering over.

When he opened the door, his jaw almost hit the ground in shock. "Sean! What the hell are you doing here?" he exclaimed while giving Jack a large hug.

Jack sniggered as Mark embraced him. "Take it you never got my text then?"

"Wha…?" Mark fished his phone out from his pocket and chuckled at the message.  **Are you just going to leave me standing out here?** "My bad, dude, I was just about to start recording for the day. But still, you aren't due here for another couple of days, what's with the early drop-in? Not that I'm not ecstatic to see you."

The Irishman smiled as he shrugged. "I just felt like surprising you is all. Signe's still coming over in two days, but I thought we could maybe make the most of the time before that to go over our plans for our stint out at Digitalia? It's kind of hard to talk about all that if the girls are around."

Mark nodded in agreement. One of the hardest things about the past year for Mark, Jack and Matt had been keeping the truth about what happened in the Dreamscape secret from their significant others. Amy, Signe and Amanda had all been suspicious when the three of them were acting out of character for the first month after they returned, but they all accepted their reasoning when they said they were just thinking about the project they had been involved in. Keeping the pretence had then become harder after Jack had decided he was determined to come over every four months, but the three of them departing regularly for their 'top secret' project helped to alleviate any worries they had. Or at least, as many as possible.

"Sure, I'm game. Want to do that now or message Matt and see if he is free?" Mark continued.

Jack's expression fell slightly. "Only if he's up to it, I know he's been struggling more recently. Any more news from the docs on what is up with him?"

Mark sighed. "I wish. Poor Amanda is getting really worried about him now."

Matt was the one who had changed the most out of the three of them, though most of it was not through his own choice. He had suffered physically more than the other two, and now suffered from permanent headaches. Running Hi5 had become much harder, and he'd been forced to step away from many of the channels he was involved in a lot sooner than he otherwise might have planned. His condition had been hampering his quality of life so much that he had been back and forth to the doctor constantly, desperately searching for any reason  _why._ Nothing had been found. The only conclusion the doctors had come to was that it was some sort of light sensitivity, but Mark and Jack both knew differently. Whatever had been ailing Matt was a direct result of their journey in the Dreamscape. Mark and Jack had been doing whatever research they could in their spare time to help their friend, but so far nothing had given them any answers.

Jack looked away in frustration. "I just wish we could tell them what we know, maybe it would help him?"

Mark gave him a serious look back. "You know what that would mean, Sean. That would mean telling them the truth about the Dreamscape, and you are the last person in the world to put Alix in any danger."

The Irishman sighed. "I know, Mark. It just sucks."

After a few seconds pause, Mark sent a message to Matt before helping Jack get settled with all of his gear. Jack and Signe would be in California for three weeks, but not all of that would be spent together. Mark, Jack and Matt were due to head back out to Digitalia in three days and spend a week out there, as had become their custom during each of Jack's visits over the past year. While they were away, Amy and Signe were going to go with Amanda and Luna for a small vacation together. Just as the three men had grown closer due to the events of the Dreamscape, their other halves had done so from the time the three spent away at Digitalia working.

Mark found Matt got back to him about ten minutes later, and he smiled. "Matt's actually at Hi5 today, seems like he's doing better. Want to drop in and say hello?"

* * *

The duo arrived a short time later and were glad to see Matt standing outside with a beaming smile. Matt, unlike Mark, had known Jack was coming over early and greeted the Irishman happily as they got out of the car. "Nice to see you made it in one piece, Jack," Matt quipped as he gave Mark a brief hug.

Jack yawned widely. "Yeah, though I tell you being up and at the airport so early was a killer. Poor Signe had to fight me a  _lot_ this morning."

Mark and Jack said hello to everyone at the studios before they headed up to Matt's new office. With all the changes Matt had been forced into due to his constant headaches, he had been moved to a quieter area of Hi5 away from the bulk of the recording studios. Now he could at least work as much as he could in relative peace, but he still couldn't work as much he wanted to. Many days were cut short purely because his headaches became too painful, and sometimes he couldn't even go in. He'd never appreciated just how his exceptional his team were until they all jumped in to pick up where he was forced to leave off, without so much as a single complaint. It made coping much easier.

Mark and Jack took seats at the side of Matt's desk, waiting as Matt turned the screen to face them. "So, I've been working on some small changes for the running of the Dreamscape over the past month, after what Alix told us had been starting to happen during our last trip out there. Hopefully this will stop all the issues she's been coming across."

Jack raised an eyebrow at him. "Matt, you're meant to be resting as much as you can, why didn't you ask one of us to do this?"

Matt gave Jack an unimpressed look. "Jack, if I did anything less I might as well not be working at all nowadays. I've had it with these goddamn headaches, I just wish they would do  _something_  to fix them _!_ "

Mark look at Matt sympathetically. "Any news from the docs on whether they have any new ideas?"

The oldest man sighed and sat back in his seat, rubbing at his temples. "I'm going back there tomorrow, hopefully we can try something new. I'm willing to try literally  _anything_ at this stage."

All three of them sat in silence for a couple of seconds. "Are you up to travelling out to Digitalia with us? It's not a problem if you can't," said Jack softly.

Matt nodded wearily. "Yeah, I've got to, I need to upload this stuff to the Dreamscape, and I want to do some more studies on the supersonics. I want to know why you two can come and go from the digital world with no issues, but I've been so badly affected. Maybe the answer lies out there."

Mark spoke up. "Hey, there's no  _need_ for you to come out with us, Matt. Just tell us what you need and we'll send you the data; and Sean and I can handle uploading all the programming. We may not be as proficient at it as you, but we can still hold our own." Matt gave Mark an indecisive look. "Seriously, Matt. Go with the girls on their trip and chill out, the two of us can handle things out there."

"What about someone watching you guys from the outside?"

"Sean is the one who stays inside long-term anyway, I can keep jumping in and out to watch everything. I can't stay in there for days like he can." Jack chuckled but didn't deny Mark's statement.

Matt sat in thought before eventually nodding in agreement. "All right, I think I'll take you up on that offer – so long as the girls don't mind me gate-crashing. Will you two run it past Amy and Signe if I talk to Amanda?"

Jack chuckled. "Dude, I don't think your wife is going to mind you taking time out of work to go on a trip with her and your daughter." Matt laughed lightly before closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead again. Both Mark and Jack's expressions changed to that of concern. "Getting worse?"

"Yeah, sadly. It seems to change by the bloody minute, unfortunately. This is so goddamn frustrating."

Mark stood up and clapped Matt on the back lightly. "Hey, we'll get out of your hair, all right? Send us everything for Digitalia and we'll look over it tonight. And relax, Matt. You need to focus on trying to de-stress, for Amanda and Luna."

Jack also stood and gave Matt a quick squeeze to the shoulder. "Don't worry about us, and we'll see you when we get back, okay?"

Matt gave them a tired smile. "Okay, thanks guys. Say hi to Alix for me, and please tell her that I'm really sorry I'm not there."

Mark smiled at him. "You know we will, bud, and she's always the first to say that you shouldn't be making the trek out there. She'll just be hoping you feel better soon. We'll speak to you again before we head out, all right?"

The pair gave Matt one last wave before heading out, at which he leant forward over his desk, placed his head in hands and hissed in pain. He never wanted to show Mark and Jack just how much he was struggling, least of all Mark. Though the two of them showed minimal signs of their adventure a year ago, they both carried a lot of mental scars. To this day, Matt knew Mark blamed himself for Matt's ill health, even though it was in no way the half-Korean's fault. "Damn it…why is this getting so much worse?"

His phone then glitched, his screen going pure white twice before going dead. Matt swore as he began to fidget with it, trying to resurrect the electronic device. He couldn't understand what was wrong with it recently. "Again? Dammit, this is  _not_ what I need right now." He threw the device back on the table and sat back in his chair, letting out a long sigh as he stared upwards. "I am seriously hoping a vacation changes my luck."

He didn't see the flicker in the mirror of his office, the shadow which shimmered briefly before vanishing into obscurity again.

_**He's almost ready, and it can't come soon enough…My patience is wearing thin.** _

* * *

Mark and Jack arrived back at Mark's house for the evening and spent a couple of hours recording footage for their channels. Jack had warned all his fans that he was taking another trip out to the States for work, and he'd seen the hype the news had generated. Over the past year whenever Jack had travelled back to California, the fans had made the connection that he and Mark were together for at least some time – no surprise when the pair uploaded at least one video when Jack came over. Many people were speculating on the reason for Jack spending so many weeks away from home, and seeing the answers had given both he and Mark a great deal of amusement. The popular theory was they were working on a long-term project together and they couldn't help but see the irony of how close that summation was. Some of the others were just plain weird and downright insane: though they had seen a few comments which gave them great ideas.

The pair called a halt at around 8pm, Jack's jet lag catching up with a vengeance. Mark suggested they take some time to look over all of the details Matt had sent over earlier that day before Jack passed out. Jack gave a tired nod of the head before they each leant over Mark's laptop, staring at the lengthy email Matt had sent over.

Jack chuckled when he saw how long it was. "Fucking hell, Matt. Talk about an essay."

Mark laughed lightly. "You can tell he's pretty gutted about not going out to Digitalia, but getting some time with Amanda and Luna will definitely help him. Hopefully he's going to get a potential solution while we're away."

The Irishman sat in thought for a couple seconds before speaking again. "Mark, do you think it's as simple as Matt being more sensitive to the supersonics?" Mark sat up and faced Jack as he aired his thoughts. "This is something that has been on my mind for a while, hear me out. I'm only saying this now because…Well, Matt has never chosen to stay behind when we visit Digitalia. He's always so enthusiastic to examine all the technology and dig through the archives to advance all the tech they have at Hi5. For him to now be willing to stay behind…you know as well as I do that he's really suffering."

A frustrated sigh escaped Mark, knowing Jack was right about Matt. Across their various trips they had managed to unearth a treasure trove of information, a lot of which Matt had implemented to all their tech at Hi5. It had made life so much easier for them, and Mark knew Matt wouldn't pass up the opportunity to find more. That, and Matt genuinely enjoyed taking the time out at Digitalia – they all did. "Okay, so what makes you suspect it, and why have you just mentioned this now, Sean?"

Jack hesitated. "Well, I actually wondered at during my second trip back, but Matt didn't seem to be getting either better or worse, so I didn't really want to say anything and spook anyone. That and the docs were just starting to look for possible solutions, they could well have found something. I can't help-"

Barking from the corner of the room interrupted Jack, at which both he and Mark turned to see Chica yelping to be let out the sliding doors. Recognising there was urgency in her posture, Mark quickly leapt up and opened it for her. She dashed outside and started sniffing around the whole area, looking around in confusion. Mark watched her closely for about half a minute before Jack spoke up again. "Is she finding anything?" he asked cautiously, realising why Mark was so tense. This wasn't the first time this had happened.

Mark continued to stare, not answering Jack's question as he waited…Waited for Chica to suddenly turn around and lock on to something. Every time she was desperate to go outside now he let her, going through the cycle every so often. Chica would go out in a hurry, Mark would watch as she investigated, and then she would come back in not having found anything. After a year she had yet to discover anything, but Mark couldn't help but worry. He knew there was a chance, that slim chance...

She may be able to give him a warning if Damien returned.

"Mark!" The older man jumped at Jack's shout, turning to face the Irishman. Jack was now standing, looking at Mark in concern. "It's okay, dude. He's not out there." Mark sighed as he tried to let go of some of the tension in his body. Jack had been here before during some of these episodes, and he always helped to calm Mark down. "Damien wouldn't try that again, Mark, you know that as well as I do. We don't know what he's doing now, but he wouldn't lurk around here, not with Chica on permanent guard."

A long, deep breath escaped Mark as he tried to re-centre himself. "I know, Sean, I know. I just- Fuck, why do I do this every time?"

Jack smiled sympathetically. "I would be too, in your shoes. Hell, if Anti was still around I'd be jumping out of my fucking skin every time something electronic glitched." A large yawn chose to appear at just that moment, breaking the tense atmosphere as both Jack and Mark chuckled. "Right, I'm going to go and snore my head off for a few hours, think you can manage to not freak yourself out too badly while I'm gone?"

Mark rolled his eyes at Jack, appreciating the banter. "I'm a big boy, Sean. I think I'm good." Jack raised an eyebrow at him, leading Mark to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. "Okay, emphasis on the  _think_."

A quiet laugh was Mark's answer as Chica gave up her patrol and came back inside. Jack knelt to cuddle her. "Hey Fluffers, find anything interesting out there?" He asked while scratching her ear. She wagged her tail happily before giving his face a long lick. Mark laughed loudly as Jack wiped his face. "Blech…missed you too, Chica. Thanks for the slobber."

Jack stood up again as Chica sat patiently at their feet. Mark paused for only a second before embracing Jack in a long hug. "It's really good to have you back, Sean."

The younger man hugged back strongly, just as happy to be there. "It's great to  _be_ back." Jack then pulled away and smiled at him. "Get some sleep, Mark, we've got a big day of planning tomorrow!"

Mark laughed at Jack's enthusiasm: even when the other man was dead on his feet he still found the energy to be upbeat. He watched him with a fond smile as Jack disappeared, taking a few seconds to think on what lay ahead.

"Oh yeah, these three weeks are going to be great."


	2. Jumping Back In

The next day saw Mark and Jack spend several hours recording before going through Matt's email from the previous night, studying it in detail to look for anything they were unsure of. They had come to the agreement that they wouldn't want to disturb Matt while they were away, so they checked each of the fixes that Matt had written for the Dreamscape and made sure they knew how to upload them without any issues. Fortunately, Matt was now very experienced with the Dreamscape's coding – through a combination of Alix's tutelage and his own experimentation – so they weren't too worried about any problems arising from his additions. Mark and Jack weren't as sure as Matt, but they were sure they could still make all the changes safely.

After that was all done the two just had a chilled-out night, watching TV and playing a couple of games as they caught up. While Mark and Jack now spoke most days, either messaging or via video chat, it was never the same as being there in person. Though the three of them had all grown much closer after their misadventure, Mark and Jack's friendship had evolved to a whole new level. Coming to terms with their experiences at Damien and Anti's hands had proven difficult for each of them, and there wasn't really anyone who could relate, save each other. Jack had been the first to open up, letting Mark in to all the concerns Anti's existence had brought to light. Hearing that Jack was struggling to accept the events of the Dreamscape had allowed Mark to air his own fears – they had helped each other heal and accept.

A year on, the pair were in a good place, able to go about their day-to-day activities without thoughts of the twisted pair interfering with their lives.

By the time 11pm rolled around Mark was playing Fortnite while Jack watched, the Irishman throwing cheap insults each time his friend lost a round. Jack started laughing loudly as Mark jumped from a cliff but missed placing down a platform, instead plummeting to his death. The half-Korean watched the screen in shock, unable to believe he'd just messed up as Jack held his sides, almost giving himself a stitch from laughing so hard. With a mild glare Mark elbowed him in the side, causing Jack to bite his lip in an attempt to stop laughing, though his eyes were still alight with mirth. Mark stuck his middle finger up at the other man. "Piss off, Sean, as if you haven't done that before!" he exclaimed.

Jack drew in a deep breath as he slowly began to control his breathing. "Yeah, but never before shouting 'Watch these mad skills!'! Seriously, Mark, you couldn't have timed that any better!" Before Mark could aim another shot at Jack's ribs, both of their phones flashed with a notification. They each looked over and saw a message saying that Matt had just come online on Skype. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Okay….why the hell is Matt online so late? Doesn't he normally get an early night?"

Mark frowned. "He used to stay up late often, but not since he's been suffering with the headaches, he's too exhausted by this time of the night. That is odd." After a moment of deliberation Mark clicked on to Skype and called Matt, hoping to older man wasn't in a place where the ringing might disturb Amanda or Luna.

After the fifth ring the image of Matt appeared on the screen, having answered on his phone. It was dark all around him, save for the light source off to his left which Mark worked out was Matt's computer, and the older man was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Mark winced, having heard about this from Amanda. When Matt couldn't sleep he would go downstairs and try to do something productive. Assuming that his current headache was a really bad one, Mark spoke softly. "Hey, man. Having a rough night?"

Matt chuckled. "You could say that, Mark. I get the feeling it is going to be a long one. How did you know I was up?"

Jack appeared in the frame next to Mark. "We just got a ping from Skype saying you were online, and we were both concerned."

The older man looked confused. "Hmm, I don't even remember turning my Skype on, strange. I must have fiddled around with the settings earlier and not changed them back. Sorry, hope I didn't disturb the pair of you."

Mark smiled at him. "Not at all, Matt. Are your girls asleep?"

Matt sighed. "Yeah, Amanda and I headed up about an hour ago, but it was no use for me." He smiled slightly. "So…" The image then shifted, flicking over to Matt's computer. The pair of them snickered at seeing one of Mark's videos half played on the screen, before Matt turned the camera back to himself. "I'm currently going for something easy to watch, hopefully it'll help my brain switch off a little. I dunno if it'll work, but it's the best theory I've got going."

"Well I'm glad you didn't go anywhere near any of my videos, that definitely wouldn't have helped your head," Jack joked, earning a laugh from Mark.

Matt's smile widened slightly. "Yes, that at least, was a no-brainer. I can feel myself starting to unwind at least, so hopefully I won't be up for too much longer. What time does Signe arrive tomorrow?"

Jack's smile broadened. "She gets into LAX at 10:30, we're going to head over and pick her up. You still good for having us, Mark and Amy over in the evening?"

"Of course, it'll be good to have everyone over before we split up for the week."

Mark could see Matt was starting to look ever more tired on the phone. "All right, dude, we'll head away," he said gently. "Look after yourself, and we'll see you tomorrow. And I promise I won't poke too much fun if you're still wearing those shades when we come around."

Matt scoffed. "Yeah, I'm probably the one person who still has to wear sunglasses  _indoors_. I swear these headaches better be down to a light sensitivity, or I'm going to feel  _so_ pissed at carrying these damn things around all the time."

Both Mark and Jack laughed lightly. "Okay, we'll call it a night there, see you tomorrow, Matt!"

The older man smiled as the call disconnected, but his expression turned much more serious as he put the phone back down. He muttered under his breath as he heard movement up above and turned to smile at Amanda as she came down the stairs. Amanda watched him in concern as she found Matt at his computer. "Matt, are you okay?" she asked softly.

He stood up to give her a gentle hug, feeling to the tension in her posture as she gripped back. "I'm fine, Amanda, just trying to ease my head a little. Sorry for disturbing you."

She pulled back and gave him a stern look. "We talked about this, you said you'd stop sneaking down here."

Matt sighed. "I know, I know…I just hate bothering you when this isn't  _your_ problem."

Amanda gave him a small smile before kissing him lightly. "That's what being married is all about, Matt. We face things together. Don't shut me out with this, I know you're scared by it."

Matt smiled back before giving her another hug. "I'll be all right, hopefully we'll get some answers from today's appointment tomorrow. Head back up, I'll join you soon."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You promise?"

"Promise."

After giving him a disbelieving stare, she relented and gave him one last kiss. "Okay, I'll see you soon. Love you."

"Love you too." With that, Amanda headed back up the stairs.

He waited until he heard the bedroom door shut before sitting back down on the chair, turning his attention back to the screen. Now in the clear, he removed the sunglasses, revealing the red-tinted irises which had been lurking beneath. "Damn it, that's more memories I'm going to have to shift to Matt now. Why did he even have Skype set to log in automatically?" he muttered under his breath before switching the screen over back to his previous work.

The window which had been hidden on his taskbar flashed up once he brought the Dreamscape matrix back online, and he snorted at the message lurking there.

W͔̭̭h̩͉̪̳͚̻̺ä̭͖̜̻̪̻̝́̈́̋ṭ̌̑̊'͚̑̉̿̅͆ͨs͉͇̰̟̻̠͉͆̒̄ͫ̃̊ ̜̟͍̺͙̹̓ͪͥ̉̃t̘͊ͭ̈̍̃h̯̯̭̹͎̘̺̍̒̾̂́e̜͖̗̬̯ ̙͓̙̬͎̽f͙̜̜̯͔ͩ̅ͨ̋ụ͍͒̑́̂̽ͧc̫͈̪͇̫ͬͧͪk͎͋̈ͩ̉͆ͭ͌i̗ͮ̇n̯͚̽̌̄͆̆̚g͚̞͉͓̎̃͑ͦͅͅ ̙͈̈̔ͫͭ̚h̩̯̺̥̫̽ͣ́ͨo̲͔͉̿͌̂̇͌l͛̄ͨ̒d̰͍̹͉̍̆̊̽ͣ̚ ̱̹͍̫ͧ́̃ͨü̟̅p͇͉̱̍ͧ,͉̦͉̼̜̲͙̇̔͋̃̽͊ ̊̋D̹͇͓͕ͮ̿͊ͩà͉̥͂̏̑ͩ̌̆m͓͖͓͇̞͚ͨi̥̗̣͚̮̍ͧ̃͑͛͛e̯̱̠̘̜̺̾̌ͤ̐̋͐n̖̪̪͖̹̩͐ͪͣ̋́̓ͮ?ͩ̈́̃͒ͥ̚

Damien rolled his eyes at Anti's words and chose to ignore him, instead returning to his task. After another ten minutes he received another message, snarling at the intended tone.

D͉̖͔̏̊̚̚O̓̀̆̍ͬͣṆ͈̼͌ͤͨ̾͊̓'̰͎̱͚̄̾̉̂̐͂T̳̖̃ ͓̻ͫI̿̽̋G̱̼̯̟̞ͮ̾̀ͪͅN̻̪̦̪͓͖Ō͈͚͙̓͊͒ͨͅR͗E̮ͯͩͥ́ͧͨ ̽ͤ͒͑̐M̙̻͕̦̅ͦḘ͓̤̈́̚ ̉̔̔̍͛̃̎Y̤͇̜̦̯̗͆Ö̟̩͈̻́ͦ̍ͧͮU͉̯̗̠͎̇ ̼͉̱͒̊M̼͎̱̜͎͛̄ͯ̚Ȍ̝͖̖͖̻ͪ̊̽́Ț̪͓̤̥͒̐̋̽ͦH̼̲̩̍E̪͎̘̬͓̥͓Ṟ̄̀F̝̱͈̥͚̜̯͗̽̃ͭ̾̽̑U̬̪̮̳̟̠͗̉ͨͣͤC̪͓͇̠͇͎ͧ̇͑̓̚KẸ͈̩̣͉͖ͅR̝̓̈ͦ͒ͤ!̞̹̯̟͋̈́̑̍ ̳̯̗̣̰̦͕̎̓̒̓̋̿I͇͖̙̲̳ ͉͙͎̭̤ͅK̺̼͉̭ͯ̑ͣͣ̃ͦͩN͍ͪ̑O̲͉̟͊̃ͩ̀̑Wͫ̉̚ ̺̜ͬ̆Y̱͈O̪̰̟͌͐̈́̎Ủ̬̣̲̎̎̐̆̈́̚'̦͚̔̋͐ͨ̃R͆ͫͥ̇E͋̐̿ͩ̏̓ ̱͐̎̎ͪ̆F̼̞̩̣̬̤͉ͧ̊̔͌̅̾U̲̺̫̠̞͗ͤ̐̎͂́C̤̞̯̼͙̣̺̾̇̿K̦̙̖̙͓̳͖ͤ̑I͈͇̫̫͖ͥͣͧ͆͆̄N̰͕̘̟̥̅̊̄̆̾͛ͣǴ͓̲̙͚̳̞̞ ̰̭̟͍̼ͣ̎̋ͬͅT̰͕̰̮̲̹́͐ͦ͛̇̽H̲̖͙͉̳̮ͬ͂̉̍ͩE͚̫͓͍̜̼͂ͯͤ̓͆ͦ̇R͙̖E͙͍̹͎̰̪̝̍̅̍̈́!̬̗ͣ̈̅͂ͭ̾

With a hiss of agitation Damien switched to the chat window, typing back quickly before returning to his previous screen.

_**I'm working, as you should be. Now shut up and get back to it. Mark and Jack leave for Digitalia in two days, and I can feel my hold on Matt slipping. This is our window. You've had a year to finish Mesmeria, don't waste time chasing** _ _me._

H͇͕̣͆o̮̫͔ẅ̱͈͔̗͚ͩ ̼̝̦̬̽̓ͮͦͅt̯̂̏̉͋̐̾h̥̺̜̞̙͇͖͊̌e̗̖̾̈ ̱̠̹͈̓f͉͕̯͓̗͉ͤ̋̈́̈͌u̺ͧ̎͑̋c͓̮̬k̝̺̜̩̯̞͔̓̈́ ̯͒͒̈́ͥ̔̊̇ā̺̹͔̼̝̦̠r͒̓̀̌̉ͯeͩ͂ ͉͙̹̐̉ͮ̿ͭ͑̇y͍̦ͤ̅ͧ̃̀ͥo͍̥̭ͨ̀̔̃̄ȗ͔̬̞͕̔̃̒̔̚ ̗̜̭͈̈͑ͬ̔ͮͭ̅ͅg̼̜͚̉ͯọ̪̞̃̌̃̈ͬ̚i͕͎̗̗̜̝̬͐̾̅͐̓n̝̤͖̜̎ͩ̅g͑ͧͭͭͫ ̻̤̮̻̐ͧ͗ͣ̽͑t̰ͧ̍̎͑ọ̖̭̄̿̊ͪ̊̈̓ ͭ̔̓̒ͧ̓̓g̘͉̜̈ͬͭ̇͆e̮̼̜ͪͦt͗ ͓̙͕̰̭̤͕b͈̬͕̙̘͙͔͌̌̽̏̌ȁ̭̟̟̍ͭ́͂͒c͚̪̻̣̝͍̆͗ͫͤk̟ͬ͌ ̟̣̄̀̎h̞͙̫͎̮͈͕̍ͭͯ̃e̦̯̳ͬr̼͈̻̠͆ͬͥ͌̂ͫe̼͖͖̙̙͊ͫͅ ̳͐ͥ͒̓î͉̦̰ͥ̈́ͣ̓ͦf͎̩̝͊͌̉ ͚̗̠̓ͧ͌ͮ̈̐M̪̳̮̲̟̌̌a͇̭͕̳̦̗̟͌t͔͈̲̤̗̅́̓ͮt̜̄ͫ ̦̙͚̻̪̈ͭ͊̚ͅi̦̻ͧ̄̽̒s̖͇͆̑ͪn͎͌'̔ṭ͓̼̰́ͣ ̰͖͔̙̞̒w̫͖̦͔̯͈ͨ̒͋i͌̾͑ͪ̇tͤͦ̆ͭh̠̹̞̘̭̖̝ͫͦ̓ͦ͐ͬ̍ ̺t͈̪̱̰͈͉̊͌̊̓̃h̝̳̽̈́̔̚e̱̓ͮm̟̙͎̽?̮̼͍̙͓͉ͬͅ

_**Leave that to me.** _

* * *

Mark and Jack picked up Signe the next morning at LAX, before dropping her and Jack off in LA for the day, giving them the chance for some time together. He then started ferrying Jack and Signe's belongings over to Matt and Amanda's for their departures the following day. Matt wasn't in for much of the day, going to the doctor for the results of his tests earlier that week: which gave Mark the chance to ask Amanda how he was  _really_ feeling. Though the two of them often spoke on the phone, Mark knew she always felt better after speaking about it face-to-face. She confirmed that Matt was suffering from ever worsening headaches, and he seemed to frequently be up through the night as he couldn't sleep. Her worry was growing with each passing day, as she could see the strain on his face. The stress over his worsening condition was beginning to show, and she could tell his hope at a solution was starting to ebb away. Mark gave her a long hug and helped her let out some of her suppressed fear, knowing well just how scared she was.

They hoped Matt joining the girls' trip to the seaside was going to do him the world of good, or at the very least help him relax for a few days.

That night saw Mark pick up Amy, Jack and Signe as they spent the evening with Matt, Amanda and Luna, everyone getting excited for their respective trips. They played a few party games and swapped various stories across the night, enjoying each other's company. As the six adults were so rarely together, everyone was happy to just appreciate the occasion and enjoy the conversation. Mark took Amy, Jack and Signe back to his just after midnight, all of them anxious to get a good night's sleep. They had a long journey in the morning.

It was just gone 10am when Mark pulled back into Matt and Amanda's driveway with his carload of people. They spent about an hour there before Mark and Jack prepared to set off for Digitalia, receiving long hugs from everyone there. Matt pulled them both into a group hug and whispered to them that if they needed anything, to not hesitate in calling him. Jack and Mark had just chuckled and told the older man to enjoy the sunshine, and the time with his family.

Four hours later found Mark and Jack arriving at Digitalia. Though Jack was excited to get inside the Dreamscape, they waited a couple of hours to allow Mark to get some sleep after the drive. While Mark napped, Jack went through to some of the rooms they had adapted over the past year. In their time at Digitalia they had upgraded the base slightly, changing some of the derelict rooms to be set up almost identically to their recording spaces back home as well as adding a communal games room. Though they didn't often use these spaces, it was nice to have the option.

Mark woke up three hours later – having slept much longer than he expected – and found Jack in 'his' recording space. Though he wasn't making a recording, he was still playing a few games. It had taken some time for the trio to find workarounds to all restrictions which had been set up on the internet within the base, but they managed it at the end of their initial visit, making life a lot easier for them in the time since. Jack spun around in his chair at hearing the door open and smiled at Mark. "Hey, dude! Feeling better?" he asked cheerfully.

The half-Korean chuckled. "Yeah, though I didn't think I would need that long, sorry Sean."

Jack stood and shrugged before turning to shut down the computer. "Don't apologise for that, Mark. It's not as if we're on a deadline here. Besides, it allowed me time to get everything ready to upload to the Dreamscape. Matt's made it pretty easy for us, we've just got to find the right directories and make the additions and changes. Here's hoping this will help Alix out."

Mark nodded at him and the pair soon set off for the main chamber. During their last visit, Alix had mentioned how some areas on the fringes of Glaysha were starting to glitch out or not render properly. While it was nothing major, the other three could tell it was something she wished she could fix herself. Unfortunately, if she made any changes to the game code from within the Dreamscape, they were uploaded line-by-line – meaning if she needed to delete any lines of code and replace them, she could destabilise the whole thing. Not wanting to risk her, Matt had volunteered to work on a couple of patches, as he could complete all the changes and upload them all at once from the outside. Mark and Jack knew Matt was passionate about the work he'd put in, so they were anxious not to mess it up.

They worked together on the central control station for another hour, inputting all the corrections to the code. While they could have completed it much faster, they were double checking all their work as they went. Once they were eventually convinced that it was good to go, Jack initiated the upload. Several tense seconds passed as they waited to see if the Dreamscape was going to become unstable, but everything remained unchanged. Jack finally let out the breath he'd been holding. "Okay, looks like we're all good. Anything else you want to do before we head in?"

Mark thought for a couple of seconds before he realised there was something. "Oh, shit! I almost forgot to hook up my phone!" He quickly plugged his phone into one of the panels, clicking through a list of programs before nodding in satisfaction. "Okay, all set. I doubt I'll miss much for how often I'll be jumping in and out, but it'll be good in case Matt tries to get in contact."

During their first trip back, Alix had told the YouTubers about the alert system her team had designed for when they released the Dreamscape commercially. It was a simple idea: just connect your phone to the network and synchronize whatever functions you wanted to be made aware of while you were inside. They had tested it out successfully a while back, meaning that Mark could plug in his phone and be alerted if it started to ring or he received at text message while visiting. They'd never had a reason to use it before, but this was the perfect time.

Once Mark was satisfied that his phone was ready, he set up the timer for the launch sequence. Jack then approached him with a set of the emitters. Mark smiled as he put them on, watching Jack do the same. "So, how long do you plan on staying in this time?" Mark asked with a smile.

Jack chuckled and shrugged. "Ummm…no comment? I guess I'll just see how I'm feeling when I get in there. Can you maybe keep an eye out on my phone when you're jumping in and out?"

Mark nodded and started the timer on the computer. "Right, one minute till we're in. Let's get comfy." The pair got settled in a couple of the pods and shared a smile as they heard the automated message play out from the speakers.

_**Connection to Glaysha matrix established. Upload in 30 seconds.** _

"Hey, Mark?" The aforementioned man turned to Jack and saw he was deep in thought. "Do you think Matt is going to be all right?"

Mark sighed as he sat back, closing his eyes in preparation. "I don't know, Sean. I really hope he will be. I guess we'll find out soon enough."

_**Launch sequence initialized. Upload in 10 seconds.** _

"See you on the inside, Sean."

"See you soon, Mark."

* * *

Returning to Glaysha was a strange sensation for the pair, no matter how often they had done it now. As they opened their eyes in the middle of the forest, both Mark and Jack stood and smiled at seeing each other back in their classes. Though it may only be a simulation, they both enjoyed rediscovering the natural skills being in this world allowed them – it was like re-uniting with an old friend. Mark drew his sword and spent a few minutes swinging it around, leading Jack to chuckle as he saw Mark trying out some of his more complex moves. "You trying to impress me or just not stab yourself?"

Mark smirked as he sheathed his sword again. "Well I  _am_ glad I didn't stab myself, yes, but it's more that I'm rusty. And I really don't want Alix to kick my ass again when she inevitably challenges me to a duel."

Jack laughed loudly. "So, you're wanting to not lose as badly as you have every other time you've fought her is what you're saying? Mark, she's had a hell of a lot more practice than you, she's been in here for two years now. That and she goes out and completes the bounty quests for fun nowadays, so she's getting better all the time. We don't quite have that advantage."

"Yeah, yeah, just because she doesn't scrap with you. I think a fight between you two would be fun to watch."

The Irishman raised an eyebrow. "Do you  _want_ me to hurt her? My lightning packs a fucking punch nowadays, Mark. As much as I know she's fast as all hell, I could still catch her: and I am much as we both know how effective those healing serums are, I don't want to put her through anything."

Mark sighed. "I know, Sean, I know you're really protective of her. Still, she can take care of herself. Don't let your Aura Mage nature blind you to that."

Jack shook his head as he sighed. "Okay, fine, so I'm maybe being a little  _too_ careful. I can't help it."

The other man wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders and steered them in the right direction. "You never can, Sean. And for the record, don't change it; the fact you care so much is one of the best things about you." Jack chuckled and swatted Mark away, but the half-Korean could still see the slight red tinge in his cheeks.

Another half an hour of walking they could see glimpses of the town through the trees. They spied a group of children playing just at the main entrance and shared a smile before they approached. It took until they were only about ten feet away before some of the group spied them. One of the older boys, who was around the age of 11, was the first to clock them. His eyes lit up at seeing the two YouTubers. "It's Mark and Jack! They're back!"

The rest of the children all charged over to the pair excitedly. Jack knelt to hug a couple of the girls while high-fiving the rest as Mark ruffled their hair. "Hey you lot!" Mark greeted happily. "How've things been?"

"It's been pretty boring, honestly. Nothing exciting has happened in  _aaaaages_ ," moaned one of the boys.

Mark and Jack laughed, secretly glad for that to be the response. If there was no trouble in Glaysha, it meant there was no sign of Anti or Damien: and that could only be a good thing. "Is Eamon around anywhere? We'd better see him before word of our re-appearance spreads too far." The kids nodded and ran ahead, leading the way through Glaysha for the pair. A few times they were stopped and greeted by some of the other NPC's briefly before heading on their way. It always blew their minds how the Dreamscape seemed to remember their previous actions and adapt the opinions of those around them to it. When they'd truly thought about it, they could see why Damien had intentionally trapped Alix in here. He was right – this world  _was_ too alive. No computer could do this, not without external intervention. Even if that intervention was supernatural in nature.

They smiled as they saw the group of kids charge up to Eamon in the middle of the town square, and the older man's posture brightened at seeing them. He gave a quick goodbye to those he was speaking with before approaching Mark and Jack, who both gave him a handshake. "Ah, gentlemen, it is good to see you again," Eamon said warmly. "I was wondering when you would be returning. Matt is still unwell?"

Mark grimaced slightly. "Unfortunately so, but he wishes he was here." Due to his constant headaches and believing they were a result of their journey into the Dreamscape, Matt had never come back to Glaysha, but normally kept an eye on Mark and Jack from the outside. Hearing Eamon ask about the condition of the other man made their thoughts drift back to him, and hoping that Matt was going to be at least slightly better by the time they saw each other again.

Eamon gave an understanding smile at the slightly downcast looks from the two men. "It is a shame, but it cannot be helped. In any case, I believe I should take you to see our lovely Lorekeeper. I may be the Overseer, but that does not stop me being fearful of our young spitfire."

Jack had to bite his lip to keep from bursting out laughing. "You think Alix knows that Eamon is intimidated by her?" he whispered to Mark as Eamon led the way.

Mark leant over and whispered back to him. "I think Alix would be mortified if she knew that. Who's going to tell her, you or me?" he added with an evil smirk.

"You just want to embarrass her," Jack hissed back.

"I know, and it's great. I'm still paying her back for all the times she's teased about us 'kissing'."

Jack shook his head. "She only does that because you give her such a good reaction, you know. She's never mentioned it when it's just  _me_ in here." Mark stopped and looked at him in disbelief as Jack smirked. "Your squawk of embarrassment whenever she brings it up is brilliant, though. I might give her some better ammunition next time you leave."

"Sometimes I really hate you, McLoughlin." Jack's grin became knowing as they entered the library, Eamon pressing on towards the Lorekeeper's study.

He opened the secret passage and led Mark and Jack through it, knocking on the wall as they reached the opening. The young figure at the table spun at seeing her company: the YouTubers had to keep neutral faces at seeing the excitement in her eyes. Eamon bowed slightly with a knowing smile. "Sorry for the intrusion, my dear, but I found these two in the centre of Glaysha. I trust you can handle yourself in their company?"

Alix hummed in thought before smiling and crossing her arms. "I certainly believe I can, Eamon, thank you for bringing them here. Is all well in the town?"

He stood again and nodded to her. "Everything is peaceful, though the re-appearance of the Wanderers is sure to liven things up slightly. Is there anything else you require?"

She regarded him kindly. "No, thank you, Eamon. I will see you tonight, I am sure. The usual time and place?"

The Overseer inclined his head toward her. "Of course, Jack and Mark's return is cause for much celebration." He chuckled at seeing the YouTubers shaking their heads. "As much as you may protest, gentlemen, everyone is delighted to see you back in Glaysha, and I have no urge to deny their will for a party. We shall see the three of you this evening. Alix, can I trust you to drag these two along?"

Alix giggled. "Kicking and screaming if I have to." With that, Eamon gave them all one last smile before leaving. It took all of three seconds once they head the door at the end of the passage shut before Alix couldn't hold herself back any more and tackled Jack in a full hug. He laughed as he gripped back tightly before Alix pulled away and gave Mark the same greeting. "I can't believe you guys are back so soon!" she exclaimed happily, a beaming smile on her face. "Has it really been that long?"

Jack smiled. "Yep, it's already been four months since we were last here. I'm taking it as a good thing that you haven't been keeping track of the date." Alix laughed before hugging him again, much less energetically this time though.

The past year had seen a lot of changes for Alix, down to Mark, Matt and Jack's help – though in reality, Mark and Matt knew it was mostly down to Jack. Though all three of them were determined to help Alix escape someday, Jack was the most passionate about it. Seeing what they were all willing to do to give her a future again had inspired Alix to find the will to live again: the first step of that, was reclaiming her own identity.

Some crafty use of her illusions had seen 'Ayala' and 'Cassia' leave Glaysha on a journey, with Ayala naming Alix as her successor. Fortunately, the program seemed adaptable enough to cope with the variable, and Alix had been given the chance to live as herself again. Her mental strength had increased greatly, and she had rediscovered much of the personality she though had died with her physical body. Though there was much of the past year that none of them would change, telling Alix that she really was 'dead' had been one of the hardest things any of them had ever done.

When they had begun work on finding a way back home for Alix, the news was not good. Damien had at least been telling them some truth before they went inside – she had been 'dead' since just over a month after she became trapped. They had found a journal belonging to one of the other scientists, detailing everything which had happened to her body after her mind was stranded. The trio had flat refused to tell Alix the exact details: no-one deserved to hear how they 'died'. What they did discover was how her team had tried tirelessly to rescue her, before her body had finally given up. There was an unintended side effect to the supersonics, and after a certain time the body would just shut down without the mind's presence. While the knowledge hadn't really helped them in the long run, Alix hearing about how the rest of her team hadn't given up hope had brought her some comfort.

Now, Alix was pretty much back to her old self, living as best she could in the digital world. The YouTubers always updated her on how her family was doing, managing to find information subtly through social media, while telling her anything new that had been happening with them. She pulled back from Jack and urged them to take a seat on one of the loungers she had added at the end of her study. "So, what's been going on for the past little while? Any changes?" It was then that something occurred to her. "Wait…how come Matt hasn't said hello? He's normally chimed in by now." At Mark and Jack's shared look of concern, she could put the pieces together. "He's not here, is he?"

Mark sighed as he answered her. "No, he's not feeling up to it this time. He is  _really_ sorry that he couldn't make the journey. You won't have noticed anything yet, but he gave us a bunch of fixes for the glitches and issues you've been having. Hopefully it sorts them all."

She smiled sadly. "Oh Matt, you didn't have to…I can only imagine the pain he's in and how frustrating it is for him. Please give him a big thank you when you guys next see him."

"We will do, don't worry," Jack assured her.

"Is he still at home, then?"

"Nah, he's away with Amanda, Luna, Amy and Signe. They've headed to the beach for the week, so hopefully a vacation will do him some good. At least if he's somewhere where he  _shouldn't_ be working, he might actually relax a little more," Mark explained.

Alix nodded. "Okay, here's hoping it does something for him. Have they made any progress on controlling his headaches?"

"No, nothing yet. He went to the docs a couple of days ago, but we didn't ask for any details. If they gave him something, hopefully it will kick in soon."

"Here's hoping." She smiled back at them. "So, what do you want to do first? Catch up or go on a hunt? There are a few bounties on the board, and one or two looked like good fun."

The pair gave each other a knowing look before smirking at her. "Have you been getting lonely on your adventures, Alix?" Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.

She blushed lightly. "Okay, maybe a little." Her expression soon flipped to confident. "But it might also give you the chance to get back into shape, Mark. I don't want too easy a fight when we duel."

Jack burst out laughing at the indignation on Mark's face. "So harsh, Alix!" he squawked.

The Irishman whooped as he got his breathing back under control. "Oh wow, too easy. Nice one, Alix." He gave her a wink, at which she stood up and bowed dramatically. Mark stuck his tongue out at the pair of them, which made Jack and Alix laugh, with Mark joining a couple of seconds later. "I'm up for a hunt, where we headed?"

"I'll let you guys choose from the board, but  _don't_ pick something which will make us avoid the party tonight," she added knowingly.

Mark and Jack both groaned. "Come on, Alix…"

She smirked at them. "Nope, I enjoy the parties the town throws when you guys come back. You guys should be used to the attention by now!"

"Is it so hard to believe we like being relatively anonymous?"

"No, but there's no chance of that even happening in here after your first adventure." She gave them a more serious smile before walking back over to hug them both. "It's amazing to see you both again, I just wish Matt was here so I could give him the thanks he deserves."

They hugged her back gently. "Don't worry, he knows," Jack assured her. "And despite all our moaning and groaning, we're happy to be back too. So, where we headed?"


	3. The Wait Is Over

Mark and Jack found it was almost as if they had never left the Dreamscape. The party the night they returned was immense fun, and it was also a rare opportunity: since Mark wouldn't suffer from any physical effects, he indulged in some alcoholic beverages. Neither he nor Jack had any real idea  _how_ the Dreamscape simulated something like Mark being drunk, as it would have to tap into Mark's memories to have the slightest idea as to what his reactions were. When they asked Alix about it she simply shrugged and said, "Damien screwed around with this place so much, I've not really got much of an idea as to what is possible and what is not anymore." So, they just went with it - and chaos always ensued.

The next day found them exploring some of the far flung corners of Glaysha, with Alix showing them some of the areas of the landscape which had been malfunctioning. While Matt's fix had solved that, new and more serious problems were starting to appear. Seemingly random areas of the map were not generating at all, and invisible walls were starting to restrict the outer reaches. The borders of the map were shifting, and it began to concern all three of them. After some brainstorming they wondered if it was actually more of a hardware issue than a software one: if the physical build of the Dreamscape was overheating and trying to work less hard, it could in theory be shrinking the map to try and reduce the temperature of the components. With a theory in hand Mark volunteered to jump back out and test it.

Nowadays, their exit condition was always the same pre-set and could be completed at any time, which made leaving incredibly easy. All they had to do was collect one of the elemental stones from Alix's study and place it in a shrine – which had been shifted to be situated in the same area.

After some discussion Jack had decided to stay inside and keep Alix company, not that the discussion really lasted any time at all. Mark and Jack knew the Irishman was likely to stay inside the Dreamscape for several days before he came back out, no matter how much Alix protested at the length of his stints. After their first excursion into the Dreamscape and discovering they had suffered minimal ill effects despite being inside for almost three full days, Jack made a point of spending as long as he could inside. With Mark coming and going from the digital world frequently, he kept an eye on Jack's vitals to make sure it wasn't causing him any harm.

Mark spent the rest of that day in Digitalia, looking through all the schematics and hardware of the building to see if there were any areas of concern. He was frustrated when he came up with nothing, but at Alix's suggestion he ran a full diagnostic of the system, chatting with the pair inside as it was running. He had a laptop set up on the main control panel and one earbud of his attached headphones in, while he wore the headset which was linked into the Dreamscape to keep up a conversation with Jack and Alix. Often it would go quiet depending on what the pair inside were up to, but Mark was used to this. While the three of them often chatted together, he knew Jack and Alix had become fiercely close; and he didn't mind not being part of every discussion. It was important to Alix that she have someone she could confide in.

When an irritated squawk burst through the headset, Mark laughed. "Take it that was Sean losing another round of cards?"

Alix giggled as Jack swore.  _ **"Fuck off, the pair of you! Seriously, Alix, how do you**_ _do_ _ **that?"**_

" _Well, I do have a lot of free time on my hands, Jack. I get plenty of practice,"_ she answered sweetly. Mark grinned as he heard the teasing edge in her voice.

Jack sighed explosively.  _ **"Whatever, man. We need a new game, one Alix**_ _hasn't_ _ **played preferably."**_

" _Mark could maybe find us something? Are you able to look up a few games online for us, Mark?"_

The half-Korean nodded and then chuckled at himself, remembering there wasn't anyone who could see it around. "Sure, give me a few and I'll come up with something." Mark brought up a new tab and started flicking through various websites to look for a new card game for the pair. "Oh, Sean, I uploaded our challenge video."

Alix laughed.  _"Do I want to know what you guys came up with this time?"_

Mark and Jack were silent for a couple of seconds before Jack answered.  _ **"It was pretty much like a game show, except…when Mark and I got a question wrong, Amy was applying make-up to the pair of us. The ultimate loser then had to wander around in full make-up, complete with dress and shoes for an hour."**_

They were both immensely relieved when Alix started roaring in laughter. Since Alix would never be able to see anything they uploaded, they were always hesitant to mention what they had been up to if she ever asked. Early on, they could see she was melancholy at never having the chance to see anything they described, so they were always careful with what they told her nowadays.  _"That sounds amazing! Who was the prettier one then?"_

"Definitely me," Mark answered smoothly, but his face fell when Jack started laughing. "Oi! You know it's true, McLoughlin!"

Jack had to spend a couple of seconds reigning himself in before he could say anything.  _ **"Sorry, dude, but if you'd just seen Alix's face…safe to say she called that you lost."**_

" _Please tell me the heels at least made you feel tall for a change, Mark?"_

Mark glared at control screen, despite knowing neither of them could see him. "Sean's shorter than me!"

" _You're the one who keep commenting on being short, Mark. And I seem to recall your self-described height as 4'10"?"_

Jack's laughter was even louder than before.  _ **"Oh boy, you would love it Alix. I can't wait to see all the memes and fan art that I am sure will come from that video. Anything so far, Mark?"**_

The older man sighed deeply. Despite his outward appearance, he was enjoying the banter. "Nothing of note, but it's only been half an hour since I uploaded it and that video is 45 minutes long, so nobody will have seen the whole thing yet." A ping from the computer caught Mark's attention and he looked on in confusion. "The fuck?"

" _What's wrong, Mark?"_

He typed a few more commands on the screen but the program wasn't responding. "Dammit, the diagnostics program says it has a fatal error and stopped scanning the software. At least it finished looking at the hardware."

" _Hang on, I'll take a look at the error message."_ Mark watched as line after line of code appeared on his screen, watching in awe as he saw Alix's string of commands appear at high speed. Despite being pretty adept at coding himself, seeing the speed and surety of her work left him speechless. " _Okay…that is very weird. The program seems to have aborted itself once it got past the initial framework of the Dreamscape matrix. It didn't look at any of the simulations at all."_

" _ **Wait, it aborted**_ _itself_ _ **? Can a diagnostic program do that?"**_

" _Normally I would say no, but the Dreamscape isn't just a program anymore, we know that Damien meddled with it. It does bring up the interesting question of_ _ **why**_ _though. What the diagnostic did confirm is that the system framework is running at a much higher temperature than normal. Something is causing it to work harder than it should be. Mark, can you see if any of the other simulations are running?"_

"Sure, hang on." Mark started scrolling through the screens, looking for the right information. "Well…all of them are."

" _What?! Please tell me you are kidding, Mark."_

"Trust me, Alix, I wish I was. All of them are active, even though none of them them really have anything in them. They are doing something though."

" _ **Am I the only one getting some weird vibes?"**_

" _No, you aren't. Jack, you need to get out until we know what's going on."_

" _ **Not a chance, Alix. Mark, can you see how long the simulations have been running for?"**_

Mark stared at the screen intently. "They've all been running since our first little misadventure, so it's been over a year."

" _ **How did we miss that?"**_

" _Probably because none of us ever thought to look."_ Mark heard Alix sigh on the other end.  _"Jack, are you absolutely sure you want to stay in here?"_

" _ **Positive."**_

" _All right, but let's be careful. Mark, are you okay to stay on the outside and keep an eye on everything? I know that this isn't exactly a new occurrence, but the issues affecting Glaysha are making me concerned about the compounding effects over time."_

"No problem, I'll see if I can find any way to shut down the programs from out here. Hopefully that solves everything."

" _Yeah, hopefully…"_

* * *

The first three days of their trip to the beach had been great fun for Matt, Amanda, Luna, Amy and Signe. They stuck together for the first day, enjoying the chance to just catch-up while playing with the young Luna on the sand and in the water. It was relaxing, with good company and great weather – exactly what they had all been hoping for. Days two and three saw Amy and Signe head to the nearby town for some shopping and exploring, while Matt and Amanda stayed with Luna by the beach. None of them were really that inclined to go out and just enjoyed the time together as a family. Amanda was growing more relieved with each passing day. Matt seemed to be under less stress, and his headaches were starting to ease. He too was glad to see things finally starting to turn around, though he had yet to remove his sunglasses for any significant length of time. His latest advice from the doctor had seen him be told to keep them on until it was dark out, hopefully keeping his light exposure to a minimum.

He hadn't told Amanda yet, but they still had no idea what was wrong, and they were beginning to doubt it was a light sensitivity at all. There was no way he was going to worry her more until they got home.

That third night saw Matt head upstairs and check some of his emails on his laptop while Amanda, Luna, Amy and Signe played a few games downstairs. While he making an effort to stay away from anything work related, he was keeping a slight eye on any updates. What he really wanted was to hear from Mark and Jack, to see how things were at Digitalia. Mark had sent him a brief text after their second day, telling him that everything was fine, but the tone of his message had Matt concerned. It wasn't Mark's normal, and he couldn't help but think there was something going on. When he messaged Jack, he was unsurprised when he got a snarky reply – courtesy of Mark – that Jack was busy. He should have known that Jack would still be inside.

Matt sat back on the bed and sighed, hissing as his headache came back with a roaring vengeance. "Damn, you've been good the past couple of days, why are you bothering me so much now?" he asked softly, not wanting to alert anyone downstairs. He stood and wandered through to the bathroom, retrieving some of his painkillers and downing them quickly. They were normally fast-acting, and he hoped they would kick in before he want back downstairs. He didn't want any of the others to see him while his headache was this bad.

With a long sigh Matt went back through to the bedroom and was about to sit down when he noticed his phone screen flickering. An irritated growl escaped him as he picked it up and tried to stop the malfunctioning device. "Great, this is just what I need. Come on, you piece of junk!" he exclaimed before it stopped. He was then immensely confused when an app he had never heard of gave him an alert of a new message. "The heck? What is DigiScape?" Hesitant about opening something unknown, he then made the connection in his head.  _DigiScape? Digitalia and the Dreamscape! It must be Mark and Jack!_

Now understanding, Matt clicked on the notification and opened the message, his confusion growing even more. "What is this?" There were just two words, in green text, on a black background.

**It's Ready.**

"Ready? What's ready?" Matt was about to text Mark when he heard something off to his left and about jumped out of his skin. He held a hand to his chest as he saw it was a bottle of Amanda's perfume which had fallen on the floor. Matt stood and picked it up, replacing it on the dresser at the other end of the room. "Okay…that was more than a little weird."

" _ **Not really."**_

Matt's whole body went rigid as the voice registered in his mind. It had been a year, but he could never forget it. Not after having suffered at that fiend's hands before. His eyes drifted up from the hard surface to the mirror situated above it, and the breath froze in his lungs.  _No, it can't be. Why here, why now? Why_ _ **me**_ _!?_

Damien smirked from within the mirror, his whole surroundings surrounded in a grey haze which looked just like a twisted version of the room Matt was standing in.  _ **"Hello, Matt. It has been a while."**_ His cruel smile grew at seeing Matt stunned into silence.  _ **"Not even so much as a greeting? Shameful, Matt. Still, I can't imagine you are too happy to see me. It does not matter now, however."**_ Matt's voice caught in his throat as his head blazed in pain, the scream wanting to escape not finding the necessary force.  _ **"It has been a long year of waiting for that useless glitch, I cannot believe it has taken him so long, but now…**_ _finally_ _ **I can emerge from the shadows of your mind."**_

Matt's eyes widened as he made the connection. "Wait, my mind? Shit, you've been inside me since we left the Dreamscape, haven't you? You're what's been causing my headaches!"

The shadow smiled, impressed.  _ **"You are a sharp one. But now, Anti is finally ready for our return, and you know how impatient he is. It is time to go back to the realm where**_ _we_ _ **have the power."**_

Hissing through gritted teeth, Matt glared at Damien venomously. "I'll never take you back!" he declared as the pain in his head blazed even fiercer, causing Matt's breath to catch as the whole world spun.

Damien shook his head and smiled sadly.  _ **"Your dedication to them is admirable, Matt. You say that as if you have a choice."**_

A choked scream caught in Matt's throat as his whole vision darkened and he crashed to his knees. The pain became unbearable in his mind and he could feel blood run from his nose under the strain of trying to keep Damien out. It was but a few seconds later than he tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

After a minute he shifted again. With a brief shake of the head, he stood, and smirked at seeing the world around him.  _ **At last…**_

" _Get out of my body, Damien!"_

Damien's smile did not change and he walked through to the bathroom, ignoring the voice in his head. He quickly erased the evidence of the blood trail running from his nose and stood admiring his new reflection. It felt different now, having full control of Matt's body during the daytime. He'd never truly stopped to look at the man whose body he now controlled, and his smile grew at seeing the red tinged irises in the mirror.  _"Damien!"_ The screech caused his expression to grow cruel and he used his power to shift the reflection in the mirror, revealing the truth which lay beneath.

Matt banged against the glass, trying his utmost to break free of the mirror prison he now lay within. While he could see the outside world as if looking through a window, his other sides were surrounded by mirrors. Each reflective surface would occasionally shift between various images, but Matt was taking no heed of them, his entire focus on the shadow which had stolen his body. All he could think of was what damage Damien could do, and his  _family_ was only just down the stairs. He'd seen that Damien had no morals, and he dared not think what the shadow would do to them, especially as they didn't even know he existed. Nightmares of what Matt was imagining flashed on the mirrors surrounding him and he could see them in his periphery vision, but ignored them. Damien too saw them and his smile morphed to something much softer.  _ **"Be at ease, Matt. I will bring no harm to your family, nor Amy or Signe downstairs. I will never descend to the depths my brother did. My prize will appear soon enough."**_

The sentiment was not lost on Matt and recollection flashed in his eyes, remembering the story Damien had told them of how he came to become the vengeful being he was now.  _He's talking about his brother's wife…he's adamant that he will never be like him._ While that did help put Matt's worries at ease slightly, he knew Mark and Jack were going to be in serious danger.  _"Then what do you want? Why go through all this? Why_ _ **now**_ _?"_

Before Damien could respond, Matt froze at hearing his name be called from the hallway.  _"Amanda."_ His wife appeared in the bathroom and Matt slammed hard against the glass as he saw Damien seamlessly slip into character, banging furiously on his cage to try and break free.

Damien smiled gently at her and Amanda gasped at she looked at him. "Matt! What happened to your eyes?"

He chuckled at her. "Looks pretty different, huh? The docs gave them to me before we left, they suggested I try them out if I felt up to it. Since the headaches haven't been so bad, I thought I'd see if they worked."

Amanda stared deeply into his eyes. "Are they contacts?"

She received a nod back. "Yeah, they're tinted red to filter out certain light frequencies. It looks strange, but I think they'll work. I've been mulling it over in my head for the past few days on whether to try them out or not as they warned there could be side effects, but I feel it's worth the risk."

That got a concerned look from Amanda. "What kind of side effects are we talking about, Matt?"

"Mood swings, slight depressive tendencies, poor balance and depth perception while my eyes adjust, things like that." Matt snarled from within his prison at hearing Damien speak.  _He's got this all rehearsed, he knows exactly what he's saying. Come on, Amanda, please realise it's not me! If anyone can see through this bullshit, you can._ "Hopefully this will be a positive change."

Amanda still didn't look convinced. "I wish you'd told me about this before, Matt. We normally talk about everything."

Damien gave an apologetic look. "I know, Amanda, I just…I didn't want to give you false hope or make you even more worried. We've had enough to deal with. At least this is something I can take out if things don't get any better." He ran his hand down her arm in comforting gesture, causing Matt to kick at the glass in front of him hard in anger. Matt saw a slight twitch in Damien's eye and realised that the shadow could feel it. While he may not be able to do much, Damien could feel him if he struck hard enough. Ignoring Matt's efforts, Damien tipped Amanda's chin up. "Don't worry, this will all be fine."

Amanda leant up and kissed him, enraging Matt. He threw himself against the glass in a full body slam, badly hurting himself in the process. It had the desired effect though as Damien physically recoiled away, causing Amanda to look at him in worry. "Are you okay?"

Damien smiled at her tightly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Still got some pain in my head, unfortunately." Matt growled.  _I'll give you a hell of a lot more pain if you touch her again!_ "I'll be down in a minute, don't worry." Amanda smiled at him gently and nodded before leaving. Damien turned cold eyes to the mirror, seeing the furious Matt glaring back at him.  _ **"Must you really be such a pain?"**_ he asked, irritated.

" _Stay away from her!"_ Matt spat in response.

Damien scoffed.  _ **"I initiated nothing, Matt, but I will not be breaking character. After all, I've had a year of watching you, I think I can keep things up pretty good now. I will not hurt her, but I make no promises if Amanda starts anything."**_

With that parting shot Damien stormed away, leaving the reflection and the captive Matt behind. The lack of the shadow's presence caused Matt's window to the outside world to disappear, leaving him in a box of mirrors. He was now surrounded by nothing but the reflections of his own mind, nightmare after nightmare running through his mind and being shown on the mirrors which encased him.

After a few seconds, Matt closed his eyes, unwilling to see what was being shown: it was bad enough imagining things without seeing them. He sat down and buried his head in his hands, knowing things were out of his hands.

* * *

By the time the second last day of their trip to Digitalia came around, Mark and Jack were both tempted to stay for an extra couple of days. They felt like they were close to finding a solution for the issues plaguing Glaysha, and they had only been getting worse. No matter what Mark tried he just couldn't shut down the other simulations without taking down Glaysha with it, and they were never going to do that. They knew if took that course of action, they would probably lose Alix. As the days had gone on more areas were starting to not render or generate, and Alix wondered how long it would be before the issues started to destabilise the simulation entirely. While they were a long way removed from that, Mark and Jack knew they didn't want to wait another four months to help out again. Unfortunately, working three-handed was not helping them much. Ideally, they needed Matt on board too.

Mark had been toying things over in his mind for the best part of a day before he eventually decided to call Matt. He'd been loathe to do anything while the others were away at the beach, but he needed to broach the subject with Matt before they came back, or else they might not have the opportunity around their other halves. Plus, he was looking to hear on what to do from another point of view.

When Mark called, he was surprised at the voice which picked up. "Hi, Mark."

The half-Korean recoiled at the female voice on the other end. "Amanda? Is everything all right?"

She sighed on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, everything is fine, Matt is just having a sleep."

Mark winced. "He's not been any better, has he?"

"He was, but…he tried out these new contacts a few days ago, and they've been making him act a little odd ever since."

That didn't sound good. Mark paused for a couple of seconds before he answered. "New contacts? Did he get them from the docs? And how do you mean odd?"

Amanda thought for a bit before she spoke again, not really sure where to start. "Matt got these contacts to use instead of sunglasses. They're tinted red, so they filter out some light apparently. Anyway, ever since he's put them in, Matt has been a bit different. He's been a lot more withdrawn, working on his laptop more than being involved with us, and Luna is downright odd with him. She won't go near him, saying that he just 'doesn't feel like her Daddy'. I think the contacts have spooked her honestly, but Matt acting off isn't helping. Even Amy and Signe have noticed how different he's been." She sighed heavily, noticing the silence on the end of the line. "Mark? Sorry, I don't mean to worry you. I know it's not what you wanted to hear."

On the other end of the phone Mark sat perfectly still, taking some time to get his voice back to even. He cursed his overactive imagination, but he just couldn't shake some of what Amanda had said. "Oh, sorry, Amanda. I was just thinking everything over. And he hasn't said anything to you?"

"No, he says he's fine, but I know he's not. I just wish he'd be honest with me, sharing is something we have always been so good at. I don't why he thinks I'm going to worry less if he doesn't tell me what is going on."

Coming to a snap decision, Mark's voice steadied completely. "When is it you guys leave?"

"We don't head back home until tomorrow night. How come, Mark?"

"You're about to get some company, but don't let anyone else know, all right?"

"Okay… Mark, what is going on? You sound like you know something."

He hesitated for a couple of seconds. "I have some suspicions, but I want to see Matt first before I say anything."

"More secrets…seriously, what is it with you guys? Amy, Signe and I have noticed that all three of you have become so much more secretive in the past year, and we can't help but wonder. Matt started suffering from his headaches exactly after the three of you went on your first big trip together, and all three of you were – I can't think of a better word – traumatised, when you came back. All of you have been different, and now things are just getting worse. Mark,  _what_ is going on?"

Mark sighed deeply, having wondered when this was coming: though he'd been expecting it from Amy, not Amanda. "I will tell you everything as soon as I can, Amanda. All three of us will come clean when this is all over, I promise you."

Silence was all the reply Mark got for a few seconds. "You promise, Mark?"

"I promise, Amanda," Mark replied emphatically.

Amanda mulled this over. "All right, I'll trust you. I won't tell the others you are coming. When will you get here?"

"It's about a three hour drive from where I am, so I'll probably get there tonight."

"Okay, I'll see you then. What about Jack?"

Mark paused. He knew really didn't know what Jack would want to do. "Assume for now it will be just me, as I don't think we can afford for both of us to come back early, but I'll let you know either way."

"All right. Safe travels, Mark."

"See you soon, Amanda." The call disconnected and Mark sat in stunned silence, his mind barely catching up with everything that had just happened. It had kind of shut down when Amanda described with was happening with Matt, and a horrible, gut-wrenching feeling had settled in his stomach.

_It can't be…it just can't. Except, it could. He would do that to get at me._

_God, I hope this is just me being paranoid._

Still unsure of exactly what he was going to say, Mark slipped back on his headset and tried to open a connection to Jack. He was surprised to hear the Irishman was out of breath.  _ **"Hey, Mark! What's up, dude?"**_

"Sean, why are you so out of breath?"

Mark heard Jack panting lightly even as he kept speaking.  _ **"Alix and I are playing a game of Treasure Hunt with some of the kids, and some of the little shits have hidden the clues on bits of paper on their backs. They're fucking slippery! Chasing them is proving to be a nightmare."**_

The half-Korean smiled tightly. "Great fun I bet though, right?"

" _ **Oh yeah, it's awesome!"**_ Mark stayed silent for a couple of seconds, and Jack suddenly realised this wasn't just a social call.  _ **"Mark, what's wrong?"**_

Despite his original intentions, Mark spilled everything. "Sean, I just spoke to Amanda. I've got a terrible feeling about Matt."

" _ **Wait, what? How so?"**_

"She said that he's been acting off. Apparently he's been withdrawn, moody, and even Luna is staying away from him. But…that's not what's scaring me."

" _ **What is it?"**_

"Amanda said this all started when Matt began wearing contacts he got from the docs. They're red, Sean."

The silence on Jack's end confirmed that he had come to same suspicion as Mark, which made the older man feel even worse. It wasn't just his overactive imagination.  _ **"Shit…do you think it could be him? It almost sounds believable."**_

"It does, which is why I am going to see myself. I'm heading out to meet them at the beach as soon as I've grabbed some gear. Do you want to come with, or are you going to stay with Alix?"

" _ **Fuck…I've got to come with you, dude. I can't not."**_

"But do you really want to leave here right now? It's not as if having you with me is going to change anything, Sean. If we're wrong, then we are losing a day with her."

" _ **But if it's not…"**_

Mark paused too. "I need to do something, dude. Listen, stay here with Alix, but I'd jump out of the Dreamscape. At least then you are on speed dial if I need you, and you can help work here. I know you won't be able to do much with just the two of you, but it's something. I'll go and investigate."

" _ **Mark, is it safe for you to go alone?"**_

"Sean…if it is him, then we can't risk both of us. Having more innocent lives there is just going to complicate things."

Jack stayed silent for a few seconds, making Mark seriously wonder if he was going to be adamant about joining before he heard the Irishman's voice again.  **"** _ **All right, grab your gear and I'll be out by the time you are ready. I'll fill Alix in."**_

"See you soon, dude."

Mark quickly ripped off the headset and raced to his room, grabbing a change of clothes, some food, water, and the charger for his phone. He wouldn't need anything else in the short term. Once everything was stuffed in his backpack he sped back to the main chamber, seeing Jack was now back in the outside world and waiting for him. Jack looked seriously worried. "Honestly, do you think it is him?"

The older man sighed explosively. "I really don't fucking know, Sean. I've had so many scares that I can't help but think I might just be paranoid; but too much of it fits. The eyes, the change in personality. Jesus, even Luna is not going near him. That more than anything is what is getting me."

"Are you thinking that Luna might be sensitive to Damien's presence, just like Chica?"

"Maybe, I dunno. I have to go there and see, though. I need to see myself one way or the other." Jack nodded and the pair marched back through the base to Mark's car. Once they were outside Mark plugged in the location of where the others were staying to his phone, bringing up the directions. "Just over three hours, that's not too bad. I'll get there in the early evening, then."

"Mark…" The named man spun to see Jack watching him nervously. "Are you sure you don't want me to come? Maybe I can help?"

"What can you do, Sean? In the outside world, we have no defence to him like we did in Glaysha. You will be vulnerable, and we don't know what he can do out here. It's better if I go alone. It seems like he hasn't done anything against Amanda, Luna, Amy and Signe, so I'm hopeful they are safe. At least I'll get his attention, if nothing else."

Mark opened the car door and was about to get in when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and soon felt Jack giving him a strong hug. His grip trembled slightly in reply, letting his fear show for the first time. Mark soon pulled back and gave Jack a tight smile before getting in his car. "Mark." The older man looked back up at Jack as the Irishman nodded. "Be careful. I'm here if you need anything."

He just about managed to force out a smile. "Thanks, Sean. I'll speak to you soon. Look after yourself and Alix."

With that, Mark shut the door and started the car, driving away before the seriousness of the situation really began to sink in for him.  _Shit…this is bad. This is so bad. Why now? What has brought this on? How could- why_ _ **would**_ _Damien go after Matt?_

_If anything has happened to_ _**any** _ _of them, Damien, I swear you are going to pay. Do not fuck around with the people I love to get to_ _**me** _ _._


	4. Right Into Our Trap

All through his journey toward the beach, Mark couldn't help but fear what he was going to find. Ever since the call with Amanda his mind had been racing at a million miles an hour, worst-case scenarios flooding in and sometimes making him feel so nauseous that he almost pulled over more than once. He'd been on the road for roughly twenty minutes when he got a call and immense gratitude flooded through him when he spied the name. Jack suitably tried to distract him from what truth lay at the end of the road, but Mark could tell that Jack was already regretting not coming with him. The hesitancy in the Irishman's voice was something he could read between the lines of well now, but Mark was sure this was the better path.

At least then if it truly was Damien, Mark wouldn't have to fear for Jack's safety on top of everyone else's.

As he drew nearer, Mark couldn't help but think back to the fate of Damien's last host, and the mess that had been caused as a result of his possession. "Hey, Sean?" Mark asked to the still connected call. While they had been silent for the past while, Mark knew Jack was still there.

" _ **Yeah?"**_

"Did they ever tell you his name?"

Jack didn't need to ask what Mark was alluding to.  _ **"No, they never did. After they ruled us out of any involvement, I never heard anything again. You?"**_

"No…and I feel bad for not having really thought any more about it before now. I wonder who he was, and why Damien took him. I can't help but wonder how long it had been…"

" _ **Mark. I have thought about this and I asked Alix a bit more about their work. She said they had been developing the Dreamscape for close to three years before she was trapped. So by the time we came into the picture…"**_ Jack was unsurprised when Mark didn't say anything: when it came to the consequences of Damien's actions Mark always took it extremely hard, even though he bore no fault.  _ **"Maybe we can do some digging after this. If we can find out who he was, maybe we can help his family like we did for Alix's?"**_

"I like that idea."

" _ **I know what you are thinking, Mark. Don't go there."**_

"I can't help it, Sean. I mean,  _fuck_ \- What if Matt is-"

" _ **Don't fucking do it, Fischbach! You're assuming the worst already. Remember PMA, dude? We don't know anything, so don't go in having already played it out in your head."**_

Mark nodded but then stayed silent again, not having the energy to argue back against Jack. While Damien's last host had technically still been alive when they took him to a hospital after their first misadventure with the shadow creature, the reality was very different. His basic brain functions had been in tact, but doctors could find no presence of…well, his  _mind_. Beyond the most fundamental parts of the brain keeping him alive, there was nothing beyond that. He was in a complete vegetative state. The ensuing questions had been hard for the group, and hearing that he had passed away about two weeks later had saddened them all.

Now, Mark couldn't help but fear that Matt was going to end up the same way.

Finally Mark pulled off the highway and sucked in a deep breath. "I'm twenty minutes away, Sean. How is everything on your end?"

" _ **Nothing new here. Alix says to stay strong and just be yourself, you don't want to frighten any of the girls."**_

"I know. Shit, how am I going to hold it together around them? I really wish we'd told them now."

" _ **Let's not think about that right now. Find Matt first, then we'll come up with a plan. She also says that maybe Luna is a good person to reach out to, since she's the one who is adamant that something in Matt has changed."**_

"Nice idea, I'll have to find some way of speaking to her alone though. Hopefully she can help me work out either way what is going on."

" _ **I'm sure you'll figure it out. The hardest part will probably be what you say to Amanda. If it really is him, do you have any idea what you'll tell her?"**_

"Not the slightest clue…I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

Before Mark knew it, he was parking the car in front of the house. It was the early evening and he could see everyone was inside the front room, seemingly involved in a board game. He sent a quick message to Amanda and she picked up on it almost immediately. "Sean, that's me at the house. I'll keep you updated on what happens."

" _ **All right. Good luck, Mark, and be careful. I really hope we're doing the right thing."**_

"You and me both, bud. Speak to you soon."

Mark disconnected the call just as Amanda appeared at the front door. She closed it delicately behind her as Mark jumped out of the car. The pair hugged as soon as Mark got close enough, and he could feel the relief pour off Amanda. He gently pulled away to get a good look at her. Although Amanda was smiling, he could see the worry written all over her face: the stress of her concern was starting to have a more obvious effect and Mark's heart clenched. At this point, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be right or wrong about what was happening to Matt, not knowing which scenario was worse. Either Damien had take hold of him, or something they couldn't solve was slowly degenerating his quality of life. "It's really good to see you, Mark," she spoke softly, making sure to not be heard by those inside.

He gave her a smile back. "It's good to be here. How has the vacation been?"

"It's been great, up until a couple of days ago. Don't get me wrong, it's still been great fun, but all of us are worrying even more about Matt; I just wish he'd open up to what's wrong."

Mark hugged her again, tighter this time. "Try not to worry, Amanda. We'll figure it out."

"I'm surprised Jack isn't with you."

He pulled away and sighed. "Sean wanted to be here, but we couldn't afford for us both to come." Mark hated how much of the story he was leaving out, but he was determined to not lie to Amanda if he could avoid it. Just then Amanda's phone pinged and Mark smiled. "Don't be surprised if you get a message from him though."

Giving Mark a questioning look, she pulled out her phone and her face relaxed to a soft smile at the message she saw.

_Wish I was there, keep smiling Amanda! X_

Amanda laughed slightly. "He is so sweet sometimes."

Mark nodded with a broad smile. "That's Sean all right. Come on, let's go in. I'm sure everyone has wondered where you've gone."

With that Amanda led the pair of them in, re-entering the living room with a beaming smile. "I came across someone outside, I hope you don't mind if we have an extra player?"

Everyone turned to face her curiously, and Amy's face lit up at seeing Mark walk through the door, a big smile on his face as he waved. "Mark!" she exclaimed as she jumped up and tackled him in a warm hug. Mark breathed her in as they embraced, his girlfriend's presence enough to ease his frayed nerves. He was so happy to see them all unharmed, dispelling several of the cataclysmic scenarios which had been playing through his head. Amy pulled away with a quick kiss and stood there dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?"

Mark shrugged. "I figured I'd catch some rays with you guys before the trip was over. Hope you don't mind the invasion."

"Of course not, Mark," Signe assured him with a curious expression. "How come Sean isn't with you?"

"He's still working, but since it only needed one of us, he told me to come here. Besides, we've both been wondering how Matt has been, since we didn't want to pester you guys on vacation." Mark turned to look at Matt and he had to carefully control his expression. The red eyes which stared back were not the shade he had been expecting, but the expression on Matt's face made his stomach drop: it was mild surprise mixed with…satisfaction, or - dare he even say it - triumph.

_Shit._

'Matt' stood and walked over to Mark, clapping him on the back strongly before speaking chirpily. "I've never been better, dude. It's great to see you, though I am shocked you are here. You're just in time for the end of the game. I reckon we'll be done in about ten minutes if you want in for another round?"

Mark nodded, trying his best not to stare suspiciously.  _Though it seems like Matt, something is definitely off. His whole expression is just…wrong. It's not the same carefree man I know. Fuck. Matt, what has he done to you?_ "Sure, I'm happy to go for the next round. Where's Luna, is she asleep?"

Amanda nodded. "Yeah, though I imagine she'll have woken up with all the noise in here. I'll just go get her."

Spotting an opportunity, Mark smiled as he lay a hand on her arm. "Don't worry, I'll grab her. You guys finish your game and I'll bring her through."

He cheered internally as his suggestion was accepted and he wandered up the stairs. Just as he was leaving, Damien turned toward the mirror and gave a quick smirk towards his captive. None of the others could see the truth behind the reflective surface, and it was slowly destroying Matt being forced to watch the world from his prison. Damien had set it so whenever he was in an area with a mirror, Matt could see from that perspective. While the man tried his best to not watch or hear anything, it was incredibly hard. Hearing Mark's name be mentioned had caught a firm grasp of Matt's attention and he could only watch the conversation which had unfolded. It had taken him all of one second to twig the look of recognition of Mark's face.

_Crap…Mark, what are you doing here? What is Damien going to do now?_

Upstairs, Mark knocked on Luna's door to not startle her if she was awake. Mark was surprised to see Luna sitting on the floor playing with some toys when he opened the door, and even more shocked when she abruptly stood and raced towards him. He quickly knelt and scooped her into an embrace, his concern growing when he felt her gripping so tight. Mark and Luna had grown close over the past year since Mark regularly babysat her. "Hey sweetie, you okay?" he asked gently, rubbing her back.

Luna nodded into his neck and Mark sat on the bed, but didn't put her down. It seemed Luna was quite happy with this arrangement when she didn't budge an inch. "Your mommy said you have been a bit weird around your daddy," he prompted gently, unsurprised when he got another nod. He encouraged her to sit back a little and rested her on his hip as Mark looked at her tenderly. "Can you tell me why? What's wrong with daddy?"

She hesitated a little. "You don't think I'm being silly?" she asked in a small voice, clearly unsure.

Mark nodded at her encouragingly. "Promise I don't think you're being silly, you're a very clever girl." Luna giggled and Mark could feel the tension leaving her little body. "So, you going to tell me, or am I going to have to tickle it out of you?" he teased, laughing as he saw her eyes go wide.

"No tickling, Mark! That's not fair!" Mark had to bit his lip to not chuckle at the glare she was trying to give him, but she was just too cute to be taken seriously.

"I'll play nice if you tell me the truth, Luna. Why does your daddy not feel right?"

She sat and thought for a couple of seconds before speaking. "It's not him."

Mark looked at her in confusion. "It's not him? What do you mean, honey?"

"I dunno…when he holds me I get shivers. I don't want to be near him. I don't like his eyes, my daddy's eyes are warm. They're mean now."

He thought this over for a moment before nodding at her. "Thank you, sweetie. That helps a lot."

Luna looked at him in wonder. "You think I'm telling the truth?"

"Of course I do, you wouldn't make this up, Luna; and despite what your mom might say, I don't think you are being silly, either." Mark's heart hurt when Luna threw herself back against his neck tightly. While Damien may not have hurt anyone physically, poor Luna was scared and confused. "I'm going to fix your daddy, sweetheart. I promise you."

Luna nodded against him again but the moment was disturbed by Amanda coming in the room. She saw the pair in a tight embrace and she knelt next to the bed. "Hey," she started gently, "did she have a bad dream?"

Mark shook his head. "No, but it's our little secret." Amanda gave him a suspicious look, at which Mark pretended to zip his lips. "Sorry, Amanda, but I will never tell a lady's secrets, no matter how small they are." Luna smiled against his neck and Mark rubbed her back. "I take it the game is over then?"

Amanda nodded. "Yes, Amy won  _again_. Your girlfriend has won almost every game we've played, and the few rounds she hasn't have been claimed by Signe. Matt and I are yet to win anything yet, it has been bizarre."

With a laugh, Mark kept a hold of Luna as they went back down the stairs. Everyone noticed how the little girl didn't want to be put down and she went with her mother very reluctantly as Amanda got her some food. While they were away, Mark went over to the mirror in the living room to make sure he wasn't looking totally dishevelled, rearranging himself as needed. Just before he was about to move though, he froze.

His eyes had drifted to Matt, or at least Matt's body, and his stomach hit the floor. In the reflection of the mirror, it was  _Damien_ he could see speaking with his girlfriend only a few feet behind him. White hot rage burned through him right then, his fury at how Damien had assimilated himself into Matt's life becoming visible. Just then, the shadow turned and smirked for a split second in the mirror.

_Fuck, he_ _**wants** _ _me to see. He wants me to know he's in control._

Slipping back into character, Damien spoke up. "Everything all right, Mark? You're staring at yourself for a long time."

_You son of a bitch._ Mark plastered on a smile, doing his best to make it appear genuine. "Well, with looks like these, who wouldn't?" Everyone laughed, but Mark and Damien were locked in a furious battle of glares. Their eyes were like ice behind the friendly smiles.

From within the mirror, Matt watched the exchange helplessly. After days of being trapped within, Matt banged his fists against the glass, screaming, despite knowing it was futile. " _Mark_!" His friend was only a foot away from him and  _couldn't fucking see him!_  When Mark looked dead ahead Matt momentarily froze, hope bursting in his chest involuntarily. While it appeared to Mark that he was staring at his own eyes, he was unknowingly staring straight into Matt's at the same time.

The half-Korean's gaze hardened in determination, and the small whisper he gave broke Matt's heart. "I'll save you, Matt, I swear."

From within his prison Matt could see the cruel smirk which flitted across the face of his stolen body, clearly seeing the position they were in. Matt screamed at the top of his lungs, the mixture of helplessness, anger and despair at the situation eating him right down to the core.

He wished there was something,  _anything_ , he could do. Damien was leading Mark into a trap, and there wasn't a damn thing Matt could do to stop it.

* * *

Mark spent the night with the group, but made a point not to be left alone with Damien at any point. He didn't want to face him with so many innocent people nearby, and instead made sure he was always busy. As they went to sleep for the night Mark announced that Jack had requested he return to their project, and Mark was eternally grateful that nobody questioned him further on it. He was desperate to get as far away as possible – and to come up with a plan.

Early morning saw him set off after sharing a brief goodbye, doing his utmost to make sure not to tip anyone off to his tumultuous thoughts; though it had been hard when he was forced to bid farewell to Damien in the same way as he would Matt. His stomach contents soured at the hug they shared, and it took all of Mark's willpower to keep everything under control. Then it got worse when Damien whispered in his ear.

"See you again soon, Mark."

Mark fought the immense urge to punch the shadow and just managed to force out a smile which could almost pass as genuine. He tried to not rush the rest of his goodbye, but he couldn't get out of there fast enough – everything about the whole situation was just so  _wrong._ As soon as he had pulled away from the driveway and was on the road, Mark frantically dialled Jack's number.

Jack picked up on the first ring.  _ **"Mark! I've been waiting all night to hear from you. Please tell me it's good news."**_

Within his car, Mark was fighting to keep his focus on the road as he tried to wrestle his thoughts under control. "I think I would have messaged you long before now if it was, Sean."

Mark could almost feel the sudden fear which had possessed Jack's voice.  _ **"Fuck. Matt-Shit! What about the girls? Signe, Amy, Amanda and Luna, are they all right? Please tell me that bastard hasn't-"**_

"Sean! They're all okay, I made extra sure they were all fine while I was there. Damien hasn't touched them, and they've no idea about him, all they know is that Matt is acting weirdly."

" _ **Was there? Wait, do you mean you are coming back to Digitalia?"**_

"Yeah. I learned all I needed to: Damien has somehow taken control of Matt, and we need to try and save him. Get everything set up for us jumping back in, we'll need Alix's help with this too."

And that was exactly what they did. The 'three hour' drive back to Digitalia was a lot less courtesy of Mark pushing the speed limit a few times, but the panic over what was happening to Matt was making him reckless. He didn't want to leave Matt in Damien's hands any longer than he had to, and every minute was going to count.

He had barely stopped the car outside the base when he leapt out of it, not even bothering to remove his keys as he raced towards the uplink room. Jack spied the touch of madness in Mark's eyes when the other man burst through and didn't even stop him to ask any questions. He simply handed Mark a set of emitters and programmed the timer for their upload to the Dreamscape. Mark was infinitely grateful that Jack shared his sense of urgency.

They appeared in the forest a short time later, and Jack was unsurprised when he found a pair of teleportation stones ready for them at their spawn point. He'd tipped Alix off to their return and briefed her as best he could with what little he knew about the situation. Mark could explain the rest when they were reunited.

Alix was waiting for them with an anxious expression beside her desk as Mark and Jack teleported into her study, greeting them both with a long hug. She held Mark for slightly longer before stepping back, leaning back against her desk. "What happened, Mark?" she asked outright. "What did you find?"

Mark sat in one of the chairs at the edge of the room while Jack perched on a stack of thick books not far from Alix, the pair watching the half-Korean expectantly. He rubbed a frantic hand through his hair, wishing he didn't have to waste time explaining. "I got to the house and everything seemed fine. All of the girls were unharmed and everyone was hanging out together, but as soon as I looked at Matt I knew. His eyes aren't exactly the same shade as they were in here, but he made it pretty damn obvious he was in control. I got all the confirmation I needed once I saw him in a mirror. I saw it was Damien, not Matt in the reflection. And what was worse, he was  _smirking_ at me. The fucking bastard  _wanted_  me to know."

Jack and Alix shared a horrified look, Mark confirming their worst fears. The pair of them had discussed the possibility that Damien wasn't really trying to hide himself from those who knew about him, and they had already talked over possible solutions. "I don't know what to say, Mark," Alix spoke softly, seeing the guilt in his face. "What I do know is that  _none_ of this is your fault. You do not control Damien, and…there is every chance this has been his plan for a long time."

Mark coughed out a hoarse laugh. "So why now? Why wait a year to come back? What's changed?" The other two stared at him for a couple of seconds before turning away, neither of them having an answer. Mark sighed and dropped his head in his hands. "What the fuck are we going to do?"

Alix turned her gaze to Jack and nodded at him. The Irishman followed her prompt and tried to get Mark's attention. "Mark." A couple of seconds passed before Mark raised his eyes to meet Jack's. "Alix and I talked about a scenario like this and, well…we've got an idea." Mark sat up straighter as Jack continued. "Funnily enough you gave us the inspiration for this. Remember what you said to me before you left? You didn't want to risk me coming with you as we can't fight Damien in the outside world."

Mark continued to look at him blankly and Jack realised just how stressed he was: normally Mark would have picked up on his hint instantly. "Mark, we just need to bring him back here, to the Dreamscape. We can fight back against him in Glaysha, and maybe we can get Matt to help too. If Damien is suppressing him, we can split them apart. The four of us just might have a chance.'

The half-Korean looked doubtful. "And how to fuck do we do that, Sean? Damien is a spirit, he can jump in and out of his host body as he pleases, we saw that ourselves from the security tapes. What is to stop him doing it again?"

"I have a thought on that," Alix interjected, drawing their gazes to her. "You said that Damien's shade of eyes was almost red, Mark? Out of curiosity, did either of you notice what colour his eyes were in his old host?" The both shook their heads, not having paid that much attention. "They were green. I think that they went such a weird shade because Damien is having to keep control of Matt. And if Matt is fighting against him, maybe he can hear us? If we can somehow reach Matt and convince him to try and keep Damien stuck inside his own body until we get them here…"

Jack and Mark mulled this over in their minds. "It could maybe work," Jack said, unsure, "but how do we get them here? There's no way Damien would come willingly, especially as made sure Mark knows he is there."

Mark sat up abruptly, so thankful for the useless pieces of information he had accumulated in his brain. It was absolutely insane…but it could work. "I've got it."

* * *

With a plan finally in hand, Mark and Jack waited until halfway through the next afternoon to head back to LA. As much as Mark wanted to head away sooner, they had to wait until the others were back before they could make their move, and they had stayed a night longer at the beach then originally planned – apparently at Matt's prompting. They instantly figured it was part of Damien's attempts to disrupt any plans they might have come up with.

Jack had been texting Signe throughout the day to make sure she was all right, worried about leaving her in the shadow's company but it seemed for the responses that she was completely fine. Mark had been doing the same with Amy, and both men were immensely relieved that Damien had left them alone: though neither of them were entirely sure why. After their first encounter with the shadow, they didn't think he had any problems with using those close to them as weapons. Apparently, they had been wrong.

While they were gone, Alix promised to gather some supplies for them and work on a plan for how to corner Damien into a scenario which would benefit them, with or without Matt's help. She began working on a set of new commands to allow them to spawn with extra items in their inventories, but there was no guarantee it was going to work without testing. She was also going to see if she could unlock their Combateer statuses, to give them new skills to work with. Again, that was her attempting it on someone else without any method of trialling it, so they had no idea if it was going to work.

Their journey back had been tense, but Mark and Jack tried their best to keep the other suitably distracted, while going over the details of their plan. Neither of them had told the others they would be back tonight, and Mark had to swallow hard as he dialled a certain number. If this was going to work, they needed to get Damien away from Amanda and Luna. They were so glad that Signe had told Jack that she and Amy were going out for the night. That meant Mark's house was free…and they had their opportunity.

Mark switched his phone to Bluetooth and the pair waited anxiously as it rang. On the third ring, they had a connection.  _ **"Well…this is a surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?"**_

Jack watched Mark carefully and saw the hatred that his friend didn't even bother concealing at Damien's tone. "Come meet me, alone. You wanted my attention and you got it, Damien," Mark spat back. "I'll text you a location once I am back in the city."

" _ **And why should I, Mark? What makes you think I will agree to those terms?"**_

Praying he had come to the right conclusion about why Damien had flown under the radar so much, Mark responded openly. "Because you want me, and that's all you want. You had plenty of opportunity to hurt any of the girls, but you didn't: you could even have picked a fight when I was at the house, but you didn't. You don't want them involved – I'm giving you that window. I just want them safe, and you want me. Do that, and you'll get the showdown you want."

A snort was his answer.  _ **"Very well, but do not test me. I do not have infinite patience."**_

Deciding to try his luck, Mark held out an olive branch. "I will be back tonight, in about three hours." Jack gave Mark a disbelieving stare. "You'll hear from me again in no more than two, once I have a meeting point."

" _ **You have your wish, Mark. While I may not have hurt any of the others, I make no promises about Matt. If you are leading me on-"**_

"I'm not, I swear," Mark interrupted, not needing Damien to finish that threat. "I will be there, I promise you. While that may mean nothing to you, Matt's life definitely means something to  _me_. Believe in that."

A few seconds of silence followed, which made Mark's heart begin to pound.  _ **"Do not leave me waiting."**_ The call then disconnected.

As soon as that was done, Jack spoke up. "What the fuck, Mark?! Why did you tell him how long we would be?"

Mark's eyes hardened as he put his foot down hard on the accelerator. "Because that's not how long we're going to be. Just don't look at the speed, Sean, we've got some time to make up."

His 'creative interpretation' of the speed limits meant Mark and Jack made it back to LA half an hour earlier that he had told Damien, and gave them the time they needed. Following Mark's instruction, Jack texted Damien the location of their meet once they made it back to Mark's house and made sure the coast was clear. Knowing it would take Damien some time to drive over, Jack and Mark worked together to clear out one of the kitchen cupboards and help Jack hide inside. After giving their plan a couple of practice goes, they heard the soft whir of an electric car. Their eyes widened and Mark helped Jack hide again, knowing it was the moment of truth.

A knock echoed through the empty house a few seconds later. "It's open," Mark shouted, his eyes turning to ice as he saw Damien wander through, the sickening smirk appearing when he realised Mark truly was alone.

"Well, I must say I am surprised, Mark," the shadow purred, the tone sending chills down both Mark and Jack's spines. The Irishman couldn't see much through the tiny sliver of the kitchen cupboard, and would need to wait for Mark's signal before he could make his move. "And here I was thinking this was all a ruse."

Mark's eyes narrowed. "I am not your brother, I don't play with other people's lives. I wouldn't do anything to risk someone I care about, and I just want Matt safe. What will it take for you to let him go?"

Damien watched as Mark walked backwards when he closed the distance between them, his smile growing at seeing how Mark was unwilling to let him too close. From the side of the room, Matt was able to watch the events from the small mirror. He saw as Mark backed away from Damien, his heart hammering in his chest. Matt had no idea why Mark had engineered this meeting, but he had the horrible feeling it was going to go very badly.

Mark kept backing away slowly, leading Damien past the line of cupboards along the length of the kitchen. Jack saw the light in front of him be blocked as Mark drifted past and drew in a deep breath silently, preparing himself to pounce. "Hmph, we shall see about that," Damien hissed venomously, and Mark tried his hardest not to glance at Jack's hiding spot: if he gave Jack away now, Damien would have the complete upper hand. "What do you think it is I want, Mark?"

"My best guess…you want me gone. I'm the re-incarnation of your brother, that can't be easy to stare at."

Damien's eyes went icy as he kept stalking forward, unknowingly walking straight into Mark and Jack's trap. "It is not as simple as that, Mark…after all I went through the first time, do you think I would really be content with that? I want you to suffer first, and then I will  _finally_ have the satisfaction I crave."

Mark finally saw Damien reach the right point and grabbed the knife he had left out, flashing it at the shadow menacingly. Damien just laughed. "Oh please, Mark, that isn't going to frighten me. You'll only stab Matt, you can't harm me."

The half-Korean smiled. "That's not what I'm after, Damien."

Hearing that Mark had used their signal, Jack pounced. He burst forth from the cupboard and pinned Damien's arms, while using his legs to immobilise the shadow. In that moment of surprise, Damien turned his attention away from Mark to try and shake Jack off: exactly as they wanted. Mark dropped the knife and raced forwards, using his knowledge of pressure points to press down on the exact right places on Matt's body. His fingers pressed deeply into two points of Matt's neck, causing him to drop, unconscious.

The pair switched their focus and caught the limp form, while Matt watched in stunned silence from his prison. That was  _not_ what he expected. "How long is this going to keep him out, Mark?" Jack asked as the pair changed their grips to carry the body out to Mark's car.

"Best guess is a few hours," the older man replied hastily. "We can't hang around, though, we have no idea what effect Damien will have on this."

Jack nodded. "Right, let's get going then. Matt, if you can hear us, you really need to keep him inside you. We need time to get you back."

Matt stared at them in shock, amazed that they were trying to communicate with him.  _"Back? Back where?"_

_**To the Dreamscape, of course.**_ Matt's swore loudly as Damien hissed to him within his prison.  _ **I told you I wouldn't need you to take me back, Mark and Jack are doing it for me. And now…they are walking straight into**_ _our_ _ **trap. Did the fools really think I didn't know Jack was here? No, this all too easy – and you can do nothing more than watch.**_

Matt began charging against the sides of his mirror cage, realising if there was  _any_ chance of foiling Damien's plan, he had to break free  _now_. Damien laughed at his attempts.  _ **Oh Matt…seeing you struggle is amusing. There is nothing you can do now. We will return to the Dreamscape, and Anti will be ready with our new world. This time, the remnant will**_ _not_ _ **be helping you. That demonic glitch can have fun with Jack and destroy him in front of Mark's eyes, while I will make sure he gets a front row seat as I end**_ _you._ _ **You will not foil us, this time.**_

A screech of desperation escaped Matt as he slammed his tired and battered body against the walls. Seeing his window to the outside world was about to close again, Matt shouted with all his might, praying that somehow his friends would hear him. " _Mark! Jack! It's a trap! Don't fucking do it!"_

They slipped beyond his view, and Matt could do nothing to stop the events that were unfolding. Damien had outplayed all of them – and they were about to enter a whole new world of pain.

* * *

Mark and Jack drove through the night with the unconscious form of Matt/Damien in the back of Mark's car, racing back to Digitalia before Damien seized back control. Jack kept a careful eye on the back as Mark drove them back to their destination, looking for the first sign of trouble. They thought long and hard before Mark enlisted Jack to send Amanda a text from his phone, telling her all they could. It wasn't the truth, but it was as close as they could get without spilling everything.

_Hey Amanda,_

_So, we think we know what is wrong with Matt. It has to do with the super secret project we have been working on since last year, and we are now sure that what is causing his headaches is a result of that. That's the good news. The bad news is that we've sort of had to kidnap your husband. We'll do our best to bring him back fixed. And when this is over…we promise to tell you everything, all of you. Show this to Amy and Signe, and make sure the three of you hold us to our promise._

_Don't be surprised if you don't hear back from us for a while, replying to messages is hard where we are._

_Love you all, and we'll see you soon._

It was past midnight when Jack sent it, and they were just getting to the point where they knew signal was spotty. There was every chance that even if Amanda saw it before they made it to Digitalia, they wouldn't get the response until they reached the base. A quick look backwards saw that everything was still peaceful in the back of Mark's car.

They hoped that the fact he was still unconscious meant Matt was fighting back against Damien – completely unaware that Matt was an all but helpless spectator. He watched the pair from the rear view mirror in the car, wishing there was  _anything_ more he could do. His constant battering against his mirror prison had cracked every surface to the point where what lay beneath was almost indistinguishable, but he just couldn't make that final breakthrough. His energy was all but expended, and he knew he maybe had one last charge left in him.

What was quite telling was Damien's reaction. To being with, he had simply let Matt go about his endeavours, knowing he wouldn't do any damage. Now, Damien was consciously striking back. Matt could tell he was close to breaking through, but he needed time to recover.

Time was something he did not have: Mark and Jack were determined to get back to Digitalia as fast as possible. Their plan to stop Damien was going to stop Matt from breaking free, and Matt knew that fact was giving Damien the greatest satisfaction of all.

They arrived at Digitalia far earlier than Matt knew it should have taken and he screamed from within his cage as the pair got out from the car, knowing this was it. He had to break free now, or all of them were going to fall into Damien and Anti's trap. Whatever it was, it was going to be devastating to all of them. Summoning the last of his effort, Matt hauled his tired, battered and bloodied form upright one last time. He willed himself to focus hard and threw himself hard against the window before him.

Matt barely stayed awake from the impact, giving it all he had in one last, desperate assault. The barrier cracked severely, and Matt felt hope bloom in his chest when a small breeze broke through to touch him. That hope was extinguished when the window went dark, Damien's powers sealing it shut – and leaving Matt no way to see what was going on in the world before him.

_**You are more of a pest than I gave you credit for, Matt. It matters not, now. You have no more opportunities, and your time is up. I will see you inside, in a nightmare you could not begin to comprehend.** _

He just about heard Damien before he slipped into the blackness beckoning him.

_I'm sorry, guys…_

Jack helped Mark slip Matt's unconscious form onto the half-Korean's back, and the pair hurried through Digitalia to the uplink room. Knowing time was of the essence, Mark placed Matt in one of the pods while Jack set up their entry to the Glaysha simulation. The Irishman quickly checked to see where Alix was and was glad to see she was at their predetermined meeting point on the overworld map. Mark approached him with a set of uplinks and the pair prepared themselves one they made sure that Matt's body was ready. Jack stared at his vitals carefully, making sure they hadn't missed anything while Mark made one last check of the upload sequence.

Once they were satisfied that they were fully prepared, the pair of them turned to look at each other. "Are we ready for this?" Jack asked, knowing this was the point of no return for them.

Mark thought for a couple of seconds before answering. "Let's send Amy and Signe one last message, just so they don't get too worried. At least if they go to Amanda and see the consistency between our messages, that might help reassure them." The pair stood and typed out their messages, thinking for a while before they committed to sending them. While Mark had gone for something short and to the point with Amy, Jack did his utmost to reassure Signe that they would be back as soon as they could. They both promised to tell them the truth of their trips over the past year when they returned.

With that done, Mark and Jack placed their phones into a power point and linked them to the Dreamscape. They turned to give each other a final look before Mark nodded, knowing the moment had come. "Hit it, Sean. Let's give this bastard hell."

Jack initiated the upload sequence and the pair took their places in their pods. They could both hear their hearts racing on the monitors up above but they were both feeling the strain: Matt's future rested on them freeing him from Damien's control.

_**Connection to Glaysha matrix established. Upload in 30 seconds.** _

They tried their best to steady their breathing, knowing the upload went smoother the more relaxed they were, but they couldn't help it. So much was riding on what was going to happen within.

_**Launch sequence initialized. Upload in 10 seconds.** _

Knowing there was nothing more to be said, the pair looked over at each other and gave one last nod as the timer expired. They returned to their resting positions and closed their eyes, awaiting their reawakening within the Dreamscape

Two seconds after their upload had begun, the main control monitor blinked into a new program

_**[…]** _

_**Uploadcondition:Matthew_Fredrick=TRUE** _

_**Initializing Mesmeria Simulation.** _

_**Redirect(Mark_Fischbach, Sean_McLoughlin, Matthew_Fredrick)=TRUE** _

_**Mesmeria Simulation loading at 86%** _

_**Redirect(Antisepticeye)=TRUE** _

_**Mesmeria Simulation loading at 100%.** _

_**Upload commencing.** _

_**WARNING** _

_**Mesmeria parameters unstable, simulation stability at 62%.** _

_**Immediate withdrawal and shutdown is recommended to prevent loss of data.** _


	5. This Is My Playground

It was dark…darker than it should have been. That was the first thing that Jack noticed as his eyes flickered open. As his awareness slowly came back he noticed that the ground beneath him was ice cold and…unnatural? The realisation that things were not as they should be caused Jack to snap into wakefulness very suddenly and he pushed himself upright, his body protesting violently at the sudden movement. Jack dry heaved as his head spun and he almost crumpled back to the floor, barely catching himself on his arms. Lights began flickering on all around him and Jack squinted against the sudden brightness. It took a few seconds before his body finally readjusted and he opened his eyes again, sitting up to see the world around him.

Jack looked around in wonder and confusion as he saw he most definitely was not in Glaysha. This couldn't be further from the world he had been expecting.

The walls, ceiling and floor were lined with metallic panels while certain sections were illuminated with coloured panels. A pale, yellow glow as being cast over the area from the light being expelled by the panels and it made Jack feel slightly on edge. Wires were sticking out from some areas of the wall and Jack looked upwards, seeing they all continued on through the ceiling. A soft, mechanical whirr was the only thing breaking through the silence as he looked around his surroundings. "Mark? Mark, are you here?" he shouted, wincing at hearing the echo off the walls. "Okay, note to self, I don't have to speak loudly in this place. Wherever the fuck this is," Jack muttered to himself.

A loud crash behind caused Jack to jump up to his feet and look around the area suspiciously. His heart began racing in his chest as he heard footsteps in the distance and Jack sprinted to take shelter in an alcove. He listened attentively as the steps became much louder, his body going rigid when a large figure marched through the door, stopping a few feet ahead of him. Jack took in the new entrant, staring at it in mild fear and curiosity. It was well over six feet tall, making Jack feel incredibly small next to it, with a broad build and wearing what appeared to be a dark green leather uniform. He couldn't identify anything about the head though as it was wearing what appeared to be a black, glass helmet, rounded at the front while sharpened to a fearsome point at the back.  _Better not get on the wrong end of that thing,_ he thought. In his mind, Jack had no doubt the helmet was designed to be a weapon, rather than just an accessory.

His chest tightened at seeing the long rifle on its back, and his eyes scanned for other weapons, the sickening feeling growing when he spied a pistol strapped to the left thigh and a long dagger on the other.  _This guy means business; I need to get out of here._

Jack held his breath as he saw it turning slowly, scanning the area. He toyed with trying to duck to the other side of the entryway, but the choice was soon taken out of his hands.

The other figure locked on to his position and Jack was forced to dive away as it pulled out a pistol and fired without hesitation. Knowing he was in serious danger, Jack kicked out at his aggressor and had to bite back a scream as his foot connected with what definitely was  _not_ a human leg. Pain shot up his shin from the impact and Jack rolled away as it fired at him again. The Irishman scrambled back to his feet and sprinted through the door, his heart pounding as he felt searing heat race past his face. He began weaving in the corridor, not wanting to make himself an easy target.

_What the_ _**fuck** _ _, is that thing firing a_ _**laser** _ _at me? Shitting fuck!_

Not wanting to know what might happen if he got hit Jack ran at full speed, turning sharply down another corridor when the opportunity presented itself. He paused to catch his breath and stop his racing mind when he heard the heavy footfalls only around the corner. Knowing his reprieve wasn't going to last long, Jack began searching for anything he could use to fight back. He spied a thick wire which was sticking out from the wall at an odd angle and Jack pulled hard, the metal groaning under the strain. "Fucking, come on!" Jack screamed in frustration as he felt it slowly giving in, but then his pursuer's steps grew in frequency. "Oh shitting hell, you've got to be kidding me!"

He roared as he used all his strength to pull the wire free of the wall. Jack tumbled back as it finally came free, but luckily had the presence of mind to use the change of momentum to throw himself to the opposite side of the door. Lasers fired past him as he dove away and Jack quickly got back to his feet, taking a firm hold of the metre or so of heavy wire he now held as his one defence. Not willing to give his opponent the chance to sneak attack him, Jack crouched low and prepared to swing.

His decision was a very good one.

The figure fired around the corner into the wall just where Jack had been standing and the Irishman took his chance, swinging upwards in an attempt knock the rifle out of its hands. It didn't dislodge the weapon fully, but Jack managed to reach for the knife which was still sheathed. He pulled it out and stabbed it into his opponent's stomach, but Jack was then stunned when it grabbed him by the head and threw him several feet away. He crashed to the ground, hard, on his left shoulder and gasped in pain from the impact before a screech left him as the figure shot at his right arm.

Jack hissed at the burn on his right bicep from the attack and pushed himself back up to his knees. The figure was stalking towards him quickly and Jack heaved himself back to his feet, ready to fight. It swung for his head and Jack ducked, punching with his aching left arm for a weak body shot. Already injured, he knew it was a losing strategy but he couldn't do much else. He ducked under another vicious swipe towards his head and reached for the blade which was still impaled in his opponent's abdomen. It came free easily, but Jack didn't take notice of the metallic scrape as it slid out.

He slashed across the other's chest before slicing at the left arm, watching in mild horror as a hand fell away. Jack's stomach threatened to expel its contents at what he was being forced to do but he couldn't afford to let his moral compass invade at that moment. He was in complete shock as his opponent didn't even hesitate at the change and Jack gasped as it grasped his throat in a vice. A well aimed swipe at the elbow gave Jack his opening and he stumbled back, now  _finally_ seeing just what he was fighting.

The exposed wiring on the end of the severed arm exposed his assailant for what it truly was.  _I'm fighting a fucking_ _ **machine?**_ _Shit, I know where-_ A harsh punch to Jack's chest broke his thought and stole the breath from his lungs before the machine pulled out the pistol which had been holstered to its thigh.

Jack froze. He had nowhere left to go.

A shot echoed through the corridor and Jack jolted in place, but was then confused when the machine dropped like a stone. The back of its head was sparking from the laser impact which had blown it apart. His eyes rose to the figure standing in the doorway opposite him and Jack almost collapsed in relief.

_Mark…_

Mark stood there panting, his hands trembling on the rifle which he had just used to fire at the creature which had been but a moment away from shooting Jack. That had been  _far_  too close. The older man had awoken several corridors away, lost and disorientated before a shout had caught his attention. He'd been slow in coming back to full consciousness, his addled brain taking a while to adjust to the world around him when he had heard gunshots. That had snapped him back to full awareness, and his heart had hit the floor when Jack's voice echoed through shortly after. The sounds had led him right to Jack fighting with the machine, and he'd reached the scene just in time.

He saw the younger man standing on shaky legs and Mark raced forward, catching him in his outstretched arms. Jack grasped back weakly and Mark guided him down to his knees gently, his eyes looking for any injuries. "Sean, are you all right?" Mark asked breathlessly, dropping the rifle behind them.

Jack nodded wearily before hissing as he moved his right arm awkwardly. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off now, and the burn on his arm  _hurt._ "Mostly," he replied through gritted teeth, lifting his arm for Mark to see. The half-Korean looked on with a lump in his throat at seeing the singed skin and couldn't help the errant thought which jumped into his mind of just how close it had been to something far worse than one burn.

He held up his left forearm to try and access his inventory and looked on in confusion when it didn't work. "What the- Sean, can you access your inventory? We need to grab something for your burn."

Jack shook his head. "That won't work here, Mark. We can't use it."

Mark looked at him in disbelief. "Hang on. Sean, do you know what's going on?"

The younger man nodded. "Yeah, I think I do." He turned his gaze to the body of the machine crumpled behind them. "We need to get out of this hallway first, though, I don't think we're safe yet. Tear up some of that thing's clothes. I'll need something to cover this wound." Mark nodded and moved next to the corpse, using the discarded dagger to slice through the green leather.

Now that he was finally paying attention to it, Mark could see that his own outfit was very different, as was Jack's. The half-Korean was kitted out in tight black trousers and black combat boots, while a dark red leather jacket covered the scarlet skin-tight shirt beneath. His hands were covered in black combat gloves while red torn strips of cloth were tied around each of his thighs, and a black leather pouch was attached at his right hip.

Jack was in something completely different. While he too wore combat boots, they were a deep green in colour while his trousers were fitted more like flares and were white in colour. Instead of the jacket he wore, Jack was wearing what could almost pass off for a trench coat, though it was only long at the sides and came to rest just at the top of his thighs at the back. An intricate cubic pattern could be seen over the zipped front, the white leather design bright against the dark green coverings. It made Jack seem…more sinister. Mark could imagine the aesthetic was similar on himself.

Realising that the leather was going to rub against Jack's skin, Mark untied one of the multiple strips of red tied to his own thighs before returning to his friend. Jack watched as Mark carefully stretched out the red fabric over the raw area, hissing at the initial contact and crying out as Mark tied it. The older man hated seeing the pain on Jack's face as he started tying on a much broader stretch of the green leather. The colour was actually similar to Jack's coat, and it meant the wrappings were not that obvious, save for the thick knot at the side.

"How does that feel?" Mark asked as he finished up.

Jack bent his arm, testing the strain before nodding. "It's good, thanks Mark," he replied earnestly.

"How's the pain?"

"Not so bad now that it's covered. Fancy giving me a hand up?" Mark stretched out his arm and helped Jack back to his feet, glad to see the Irishman didn't flinch too much at taking the strain on his right arm. "Thanks, dude." The pair of them cast their eyes back down, staring at the machine on the floor. It was now in bits, but it didn't stop either of them from shivering at the thought of what it had so nearly done. Eager to get away from there, Jack took two steps back and he spoke again. "Right, let's get the fuck out of here."

"Hang on." Jack paused in his departure at seeing Mark staring at the gun on the floor. "We'd better take these with us. If this thing was anything to go by, this place is dangerous."

Jack winced: just the thought of carrying a gun gave him the chills. "Mark…"

"Sean, we both know what almost happened. We can't afford to be squeamish about this." When Jack's eyes fell to the rifle again, Mark could take a guess at what was on his mind. "I'll take the gun, if you want. You take the dagger." Stifling the urge to be sick, Jack nodded and the pair started gathering up the weapons. Mark swung the rifle on to his back while Jack unfastened the holder for the knife, fixing it to his own thigh instead. After some thought Mark grabbed the pistol as well, offering it to the other man. Jack looked at him hesitantly. "Please, take it, Sean. You don't have to use it, but keep it with you. Just in case."

After a lot of stalling, Jack took the gun. Mark noted the speed with which he stored it, but this wasn't the time or place for the conversation. Their emotions were running incredibly high right now, and they needed to find a safe place.

The pair raced away from the scene, moving stealthily through the corridors around them. Many of the passageways looked the same and more than once, they wondered if they were just going around in circles. Several times they had stopped as they saw more machines patrolling the corridors, and they noticed that all of them were identical, all the way down to which weapons they carried. At least that would make their lives slightly easier – if they knew what they could be facing ahead of time, they could at least have a vague plan.

Ten minutes later saw them emerge into a long corridor, but at least this time it had a window. The two ran over to it and stared out to the surrounding world, the breath in both their chests catching. "Holy shit…" Mark whispered.

Jack nodded in agreement. "You're not wrong there, dude."

They were what looked like a futuristic metropolis. Buildings towered into the sky above them, while down below they could see a vast network of what looked like a kind of monorail system. Some of the tracks came well into the air, while lights shone into the twilight surroundings. Thunder rumbled overhead, leading the pair to look at the overhead sky a bit more closely. That was when they noticed it: the sky was…broken. Or rather, it wasn't finished yet.

Various segments of the sky were missing, a grid of blue lines showing in their place. Now that they were looking out for it, they could see other areas were suffering from the same fate. Whole sections of towers were incomplete, while even some of the monorails had noticeable gaps. From the height they were at they couldn't see the ground below properly, but they were sure they would find something similar. " _Shitting hell_ , we're high up," Jack breathed out, taking a step back from the window.

Mark looked over at him in mild concern and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You all right?"

Jack gave a small nod in reply. "Yeah, I'm okay, just had a moment there. You'd think after all the time I've spent in the Dreamscape that I'd have moved past my thing with heights."

"Never that easy, dude, especially with this place. It's insane…" Mark turned to look at Jack fully. "How did you know our inventories don't work in here, Sean? What is this place?"

Jack gave a long sigh as he turned he gaze back to the world outside, but made a point of not looking down. "We're in another one of the simulations, the only other one which was vaguely finished. I think that's why the world looks mostly right but is…slightly fucked in certain ways."

Mark's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, we jumped simulations? Did we set the wrong destination?"

The Irishman shook his head. "No way, remember what the computer said in the voice-over? We were headed to Glaysha. No…I get the feeling we were brought here on purpose. I just don't get how."

"Where is this, then? Do you know anything about this place, Sean?"

"Alix told me about the basic premise for this world, it was a long time ago though. I don't remember much, but I know that they deliberately didn't implement an inventory system here, sadly. In this world, it is essentially just a case of escaping. Reaching the exit portal probably won't be easy though."

"How right you are, bitches." Mark and Jack both froze at the sinister voice and Mark could see all the blood drain from Jack's face. It was a voice they hadn't heard in year, but it was something they could never forget. Not least because it sounded so close to Jack's, but the tone was the polar opposite. So far from the friendliness and warmth that Jack projected: it was chilling, maniacal…and the madness lurking beneath was unmistakeable.

"No…No, it can't be…" Jack whispered desperately. "He's gone. He's  _fucking gone_."

Just then, Anti's image flashed up on the window, glitching furiously. "Wishful thinking, Jack-a-boy." Jack and Mark both jumped back, but Mark took a step closer to Jack. He could see the panic settling on the younger man's face, the fear of facing his psychotic sub-personality evident. "I'm never gone, I thought you'd have realised that by now. I'm always there...lurking in the back of your mind."

Jack snarled back at the glitch. "Fuck you! We beat you in Glaysha, I saw it! How are you here?"

Anti laughed insanely. "Oh Jack…you are so naïve it is precious. I'm a program – how the fuck was I meant to be killed by a digitally created weapon?" Both Jack and Mark froze, they hadn't thought of this. "No…I'm not that easily beaten. Did you two not think anything on how our battle ended a year ago? How I vanished and Damien withdrew? It's true that you eliminated the body created for me in Glaysha, but I am a program. I can move about the Dreamscape in ways not even Damien can dream of.

"You fools just played into our hands. Our plan went far beyond that silly little fight in Glaysha. Oh don't get me wrong, I would have loved to end things there. But  _this_ …now we are playing on a stage with  _my_ rules."

"What do you mean?" Mark demanded, not liking where this was heading.

"We knew there was a chance you fools could escape our grasp, it wasn't as fine a plan as we would have wanted. Time was not on our side. That was why we needed little old Matt's help."

Jack's eyes went wide. "Oh fuck…you really did take Matt so that Damien could do something to him, didn't you?!" Mark looked at Jack in horror, so many questions jumping into his mind, but one stood out more than the others.

_How the hell did Sean just come to that connection?_

Anti smirked. "Damn right we did, princess. Damien left a little piece of his fucked up power inside Matt – just enough to follow him back out into your world. It meant that when you swanned off back to your lives, we had a way to watch you. And it also meant that Damien could work on our plans from the outside, right under your noses, while I got on with business, free of his suffocating presence. It was a win-win. And when we were ready…he drew you right back here."

Mark stared at him suspiciously. "Drew us back? What do you- oh  _fuck._ That's why Damien wasn't bothering to hide anymore. He wanted us to bring him back. You mean everything we did…we just played into his hands? That's why he suddenly re-appeared, because he  _wanted_ to come back here, but he couldn't do it without arousing suspicion." He finished the sentence in a whisper, his whole mind reeling from the revelation.

The glitch flickered in the window, but his smile grew with each passing second. "I'll give the fucker credit, he knows how to bring a plan together. It took longer than we thought to build Mesmeria, but it was well worth it. This place is  _my_ playground. What better way for me to have control than trap you somewhere where everything is a machine? I don't need a new body here: I can fuck around with you as much as I want-"

Not willing to let Anti continue that sentence, Jack jumped in sharply. "Where is Matt? What have you done with him?!"

At that, the glitch's expression changed to one of indifference. "I've no fucking idea."

Jack's glare turned icy. "Bullshit! You know, now fucking tell us!"

Antis' stare became empty, and it gave Mark chills. Seeing that look on someone who was all but an identical twin of Jack…it was possibly the most disconcerting thing he had seen. "Much as I wish I was a master of this place, that just wasn't possible in the timeframe, Jack-a-boy. It looks like Damien's power had a slight side effect when we hijacked your upload."

Mark looked at him coldly. "What does that mean?"

The glitch shrugged. "It means the Dreamscape couldn't separate Damien and Matt when they were uploaded to this place. Last I saw, the program is still trying to untangle their two minds. Two independent minds fighting for control of one body? The Dreamscape isn't designed for that shit. Who knows what is going to happen with them now." He smirked again. "I wouldn't hold your breath for seeing Matt again, though. I'll make sure you  _never_ find him in this place, even if he does appear."

Both men glared at him icily. "Fuck you, asshole!" Mark snarled. "We'll find Matt and then get out of here, just you watch!"

Anti laughed. "You two really need some better insults, they're getting boring." His eyes switched to Jack and the Irishman gave him the coldest stare he could back. "Enjoy your freedom, Jack. It won't last for long."

Jack's whole stance changed, becoming much more aggressive than it had been up until this point. "I'll  _never_  let you take over me, you fuck! I've seen what you'll do with my body and I'll do whatever it takes to stop you!"

A cruel smirk was Anti's response. "We'll see, Jack. We'll see just how much you are willing to lose before you break under the strain. After all…" his eyes travelled over to Mark, "I wonder just how those screams of Mark's will sound when I use him for my...entertainment."

Mark jumped as the window shattered before them, but a couple of seconds later his brain caught up. He hadn't been startled by the sight, it was the sound, just like a…His eyes travelled to his right and he saw Jack's outstretched arm shaking, tears and unrestrained anger in his eyes. Mark's own gaze widened as he saw the smouldering gun in Jack's right hand – he'd barely thought Jack could ever find the will to draw a gun, let alone fire one. To see him do it with such  _hatred_ …

This was  _not_ good. Anti was already messing with his head, and Mark couldn't help but fear how little it might take for Jack to fall to a place he couldn't come back from.

Insane laughter echoed all around them, causing them to look around for the source. " _That didn't take long, princess. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do when I get my hands on you…I'm the puppet master here, Jack. And I'm going to_ _ **love**_ _playing your every move."_

"Fuck off, you sick bastard!" Jack spat, causing Mark to step in front of him.

The half-Korean held Jack's face, forcing his focus onto him. "Sean! Don't respond to him, this is what he wants! Anti's trying to get inside your head: don't let him. Look at yourself, Sean…This isn't you." Jack's eyes lost some of the fog which had descended over them and Mark could see he was getting through. "You told me what you saw in those moments where Anti took over you, and you swore you'd do anything to stop him. Don't fall into his trap, Sean."

Jack's eyes finally cleared, and he looked down towards the gun which now lay limply at his side. His breath caught in his chest as he dropped it, recoiling as if the item had burned him. "Mark I-"

Mark shook his head and picked the weapon up. "It's okay, Sean. I know – I know what it's like." The pair turned to look at the end of the corridor as they heard footsteps. "Come on, we need to get out of here. Let's find some shelter, then we'll work out how to find and save Matt. Once we've done that, we'll figure out how to get rid of that psychopath once and for all."

The pair shared a short look before sprinting away, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. They didn't want any more unwanted company. As they ran Mark had to do all he could to stop his mind from spiralling. He just couldn't get that look in Jack's eyes out of his head.

In that moment, he'd never seen him look so close to Anti. And that parallel was terrifying him. He had to protect Jack, no matter what.


	6. A Friend In The Dark

Mark and Jack had sped away from the area as fast as they could, unwilling to stay there any longer than they had to. The half-Korean couldn't help but notice that Jack was looking over his shoulder at almost every pause, however. Mark really couldn't blame him: he too was looking at every screen and window they came across with intense suspicion. Their encounter with Anti had suitable unsettled Mark – he could only imagine how much worse it was for his friend.

After sneaking through the corridors for another ten minutes they eventually found an elevator. Breathing a deep sigh of relief as it shut, the pair took a few moments to take stock of the world around them. Despite the peril they were in, both Mark and Jack could appreciate the dark beauty of such a world. The lights, the smells, the towers which almost seemed to touch the sky around them…While Glaysha had the clear element of fantasy to it, this struck a lot closer to home. Their world could be like this in the not so distant future.

As the elevator was glass and situated on the outside of the building, Mark and Jack could both stare at their surroundings as they sped downwards. Not having the slightest idea where to go, they had just picked a floor number which looked important. The mezzanine level sounded like a good starting point, so they had hit that and watched their floor number tumble. Jack had gone slightly green at seeing their original floor number, but as soon as they had started descending he felt a lot better. "You know, despite this world not being anywhere near finished, it is certainly atmospheric," Jack noted as they watched their descent.

Mark nodded in agreement. "You're right there. I can't believe how different this feels to Glaysha. It kinda feels we've jumped into the future."

"Well if this is our future, I really hope we  _don't_ fuck around with machines as sentries. Those things are lethal."

The older man grimaced. "No shit, I can't believe how close that was." He paused for a couple of seconds before deciding to change the subject. "Okay, now that we've got a moment or two to ourselves, why don't you run me through what you know about this place?"

Jack sighed as he began pacing the elevator. "Not an awful lot, unfortunately. Alix was involved in the basic design process of this place, but not much beyond that. Damien had her focus harder on Glaysha, and we know why. What I don't get is that Alix said this place was nowhere near ready for any players, so how the hell is this happening?"

Mark thought on this for a couple of seconds. "My guess is that Damien and Anti have been working on making this simulation viable since we left the first time. We could physically fight back against them in Glaysha, we can't do that here. And Anti is a lot more dangerous in this place… we're going to have to be extra careful." He looked over and saw the harsh expression on Jack's face. "Sean, this isn't your fault. We just need to make sure Anti doesn't hurt you, or screw with your head any more than he already has. Did Alix say what the exit conditions for this world were?"

"She said they loosely based this world on an 'escape room' scenario. I just think we need to find our way to the portal and get out."

"We're probably going to have to solve a few puzzles along the way, or something along those lines then. Good thing we both play video games for a living then, huh?" Jack laughed lightly, the joke breaking through the heavy atmosphere. Mark placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Seriously, though. You all right, Sean?"

Jack thought for a couple of seconds before he answered. "I will be. Seeing Anti again just completely threw me, and that fucker seems to be even more insane than before." He went silent for a moment before looking Mark straight in the eyes. "Where did that come from, Mark? I've never felt an urge like that before and I just- I'm not the violent type, so what the hell caused that?"

Mark gave him a tight smile. "Because as much as you hate to admit it, Sean, Anti is a part of you: and knowing that kills you inside. Seeing him brings out a much more primal instinct to eliminate him. When you see him, you see the worst parts of yourself come to life." Mark's smile changed and became softer. "And as someone who does his utmost to help everyone, you're willing to do anything to stop him from hurting others."

A small chuckled escaped Jack. "Jeez, when did you become so insightful, Mark? Not like you to psychoanalyse."

"You helped me come to terms with my issues with Damien, the least I can do is return the favour now. Remember, Anti is a  _program_. Once we get out of here, we'll figure out a way to delete him for good."

The elevator came to an abrupt stop and they rapidly went back on guard, not sure what they were going to find. Once the doors opened they took cover on either side of the opening, peering around the corners to see what lay ahead. The floor was vastly different from where they had been before. It stretched up several stories high and almost appeared like a futuristic terminal. From Mark's angle he could see a monorail sitting at the far end of the floor while Jack could see several more of the sentries patrolling along the opposite side. "Mark, we've got company," he whispered, nodding his head towards their aggressors.

Mark leant around a little more to get a good look. There were six of them in total, split into groups of two across the vast glass floor. All of them seemed to be armed just as the first one he and Jack had come across and Mark grimaced. He retrieved the pistol, which he had kept since Jack dropped it, and offered it to the other man. Jack glared at the weapon and shook his head. "Sean, there are way too many of them. I know you don't want to use this thing but we may not have a choice. If they shoot we will need a way of fighting back." Jack still was not convinced. "This isn't real, Sean, and they aren't people. They're just machines."

Jack let out a long sigh as he took the pistol tentatively. "All right, but let's try and  _not_ get ourselves in a fire fight. Let's study their movements for a while and see if we can avoid them." Mark nodded and looked at the elevator panel next to him, eventually coming across a button with a large X on it. Hoping that his suspicion about its purpose was right he pressed it, causing both of them to look around in slight confusion as the capsule powered down. Jack turned his gaze back to Mark, looking unsure. "Was that you?" He breathed out a sigh of relief when Mark nodded.

After a few minutes of watching the sentries' paths, Mark and Jack managed to spy a route where they shouldn't be seen. Waiting for their opportune moment, they crept along the edge of the floor, sticking to whatever shadows they could. It was several slow minutes later that they managed to sneak over to the monorail and tried to get into the shuttle, but Jack swore as the doors wouldn't open. "Shit, we can't get in!" He skimmed his eyes across the door and finally spied a highlighted panel just next to the door. "What's your bets that we need some sort of key card for this?"

"Just great…how the hell are we meant to find that?" Mark hissed quietly, keeping a careful eye on their company as his grip on his rifle tightened. He hated how in the open they felt. A set of sentries were just about to make their way back over and Mark grabbed Jack's coat, hauling him back to cover. The pair crouched within an opening, watching as the sentries stalked past their position. Even though they knew they hadn't been spotted, both Mark and Jack's hearts were threatening to beat out of their chests. With no inventories like they had grown used to from Glaysha, that meant they had no healing items: any injuries they carried with them were going to be permanent.

They really didn't want to test whether Anti had thought to disable the auto-eject if they died – if that feature was working at all. None of them had ever been brave enough to test it.

Mark let out a long breath once he felt they were safe enough. "Okay, so what do we do now? How do we get around these guys?"

Jack stretched out further and stared around the whole area. On the far end of the floor he could a strange outline on one of the walls, and suddenly realised what it was. "Mark, look!" The older man followed Jack's guiding point, seeing what had caught his eye. "That looks like a door. Want to try it?"

He nodded in agreement. "All right, there's no point in both of us risking going over there. Do you want to stay put or try and sneak over?"

The Irishman gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Why are we not both going?"

"Because if we suddenly need to fight our way out, we could be stuck in that room. At least if one of us stays out here, they can come to the other's help."

"Mark, are you really sure this is a good idea?"

Mark shook his head. "No, I'm not, but I think this is the best we can do." He sighed before grasping Jack's shoulder briefly. "Stay here, I'll be back soon."

Before Jack could argue back Mark had crept away, using the small window of opportunity he had to edge closer to the opposite side of the mezzanine. Jack swore under his breath and made sure his pistol was primed while ducking further into the shadows. He held his breath as he watched Mark dash between sections of cover, terrified that something was going to go wrong. In the back of his mind he couldn't stop worrying that Anti was going to trip something and tip off the machines to their presence.

At the other side of the floor Mark skidded into the far corner, making himself as small as possible as he watched for another opening. Since they hadn't really been watching the sentries on this side much he wasn't 100% sure as to their patrol route, but it only took a few minutes for him to work it out. Once he had managed to summon enough courage to leave himself in the open, Mark ran for the door. Fortunately, it didn't require anything to open it and the doors slid open, the half-Korean quickly dove inside. He exhaled deeply, trying to relieve some of the tension in his body before taking a look around. It appeared almost like an office and Mark took a quick look around, seeing if there was anything useful they could use.

The first thing which caught his eye was a glass tablet and he picked it up, watching carefully as various red dots were moving around a series of lines, while there were two stationary blue dots. It took Mark a couple of seconds to work out what it was and he smiled as the movements looked familiar.  _This is a tracker which shows the sentries, brilliant! We could really use this._ He quickly slipped it into the pouch on his hip, suddenly wondering why it was there.  _Wait, since when did I have that?_

Mark quickly fished around in it, soon coming up with several small cylindrical items and what looked like a few pieces of metal bent at one end.  _What the hell is all this?_ Remembering that Jack was probably stressing out on the opposite side of the floor, Mark stored all the items again and went back to his search. He soon found another glass tablet, larger this time, and clicked on it. His face scrunched up in utter confusion at the mess of shapes and lines which appeared in a multitude of colours.  _Okay…this thing is confusing. Better take it with me though, just in case._

As Mark was storing the second panel he accidentally kicked over a stool, and the metal object clattered loudly on the floor.  _Shit!_ He quickly dove under a desk and his breath caught as he saw two of the sentries standing at the now opened door.  _Crap…this is_ _ **so**_ _not good. How the hell am I going to get out of this one?_ Mark scooted back as far as he could do, gripping on to his rifle tightly. He raised it and sat ready to fire, but his hands were shaking like crazy.  _Come on, not now damn it!_

One of the sentries walked right in front of him and Mark held his breath, praying it wouldn't look down. He swore internally as it began to bend over, but then a shot rang through the area. Mark jumped as it clattered to the floor, but then his senses were all hyperaware as the other sentry rapidly spun and started firing out the door, but it was soon brought down by another well aimed shot. Lasers raced into the room through the open door and Mark stared in shock as Jack slid into the room and started shooting with his pistol from around the door frame. "Hurry the fuck up, Mark! I can't hold them off for long!" he exclaimed breathlessly, ducking back behind cover as more lasers impacted right next to them.

Mark shook his head briefly to get back in the zone as he jumped back to his feet, going through the room at top speed to find anything which would help them get on to the shuttle. "Come on!" he screamed in frustration as he heard Jack swear from a few shots that got a bit too close for comfort. Knowing Jack could use the extra firepower he ran towards one of the sentries and unclipped its rifle, throwing it towards Jack. "Sean, heads up!"

Now realising that Mark was right about having to work past his fear of the weapons, Jack dropped the pistol and caught the rifle, firing rapidly to try and keep the sentries away. Mark went back to searching and spied a bright blue card on a shelf on the corner of the room. He grabbed it and read the front, cheering when he saw what it said.

_**Blue Line Pass** _

"Yes! Sean, I've got it!" Mark shouted as he put in in his back pocket and slid into cover on the opposite side of the door. He retrieved his rifle and started firing at the sentries, happy to see that Jack had managed to eliminate another one. "Nice shooting! Focus on them from left to right, we'll take them down together!"

Jack nodded and followed Mark's lead as the pair of them concentrated their fire on each of their targets. They each had to duck back into cover a few times when a few shots came  _way_ too close for comfort, one of which grazed Jack's face. He hissed from the burn he could feel next to his right eye but kept firing. It took another fraught minute, but they brought down the last of the machines.

A beeping from his pouch caught Mark's attention and he watched in horror as he saw more red dots beginning to appear on their floor. Their own blue dots were still a safe distance for the moment, but that wasn't going to last. "Sean, we need to move it now!" The pair sprinted out the door and raced towards the other side, Mark being forced to drop when he saw lasers out of the corner of his vision. Jack quickly stopped and fired back as Mark scrambled back to his feet. They kept up a barrage of their own shots as they made it back to the monorail, Mark swiping the card over the lit panel.

It slid open and the two of them dashed inside, scanning the card again as they made it in. The doors closed as some of the windows shattered under the barrage of fire. Mark and Jack both hit the deck, hiding behind some of the seats lining the edges as they suddenly felt the carriage shift. With a great sigh of relief, they heard the gunfire aimed at them lessen as the monorail activated and sped away.

Mark and Jack both stayed on the ground for another minute, catching their breath and trying to take in the whole situation they had just narrowly escaped from. The half-Korean was the first to really come back to himself and when he looked over at Jack, his heart jumped. "Sean!" He scrambled over and took a close look at the angry wound next to Jack's right eye. It was about an inch long, half an inch high and slightly singed around the edges. " _Jesus…"_

Jack smiled at him with a small chuckle. "Believe it or not, I think the fact it was a laser means it hurts a hell of a lot less. All I'm getting is a slight sting and a little numbness. How bad does it look?"

"Honestly? I thought it would hurt like a bitch. It just looks really painful, dude."

"Nah, it's not too bad, the one on my arm hurts a lot more. Luckily I'm getting used to that one now."

Mark winced as he remembered the other wound and couldn't help but look down at it, even thought he couldn't see anything through the wrapping. He sat back and stayed silent for a moment before giving Jack a grateful smile. "Thanks for the save, Sean."

Jack smirked and then winked at him. "Told you splitting up was a bad idea."

The older man ruffled his hair with a warm smile. "Shut the fuck up." They laughed together for a second before the power in the shuttle suddenly went dead. Everything plunged into darkness and the pair looked upwards in concern. "That can't be good. What happened do you think?"

The Irishman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Come on, let's see if we can find anything at the front." Both of them got back to their feet and stashed their weapons on their backs before they made their way forward through the carriages, looking for any indication as to why they stopped. Nothing seemed to have any power. They advanced through three more sections before they reached a different set of doors. With no power the doors wouldn't open on their own, so Jack used his knife as a lever to get enough of a gap for the pair to take a firm grip of a side each. They grunted under the effort of trying to force the sides apart, but they soon had the doors open.

Mark was the first to walk in and look around the control pod while Jack looked out the window, seeing that the rail itself was no longer lit up. "Well I think we've found our problem, the power outside is gone. The question is…why?" Just as Jack was about to turn away the screen in front of him flashed for a split second, but the image was enough to make him jump back in fright. Anti's smirking face had appeared and Jack had to fight the urge to not be sick.

_The bastard knows what we're doing, he's watching our every move._

The main control panel started flashing and the pair watched as several lines of code appeared, the commands scrolling far too fast for either of them to know what was happening. "Why do I have a bad feeling about that?" Mark asked quietly.

"Probably because I do too," Jack admitted, suddenly worried for what Anti had planned. He was about to suggest they back away when all the windows started glitching out of control. "Shit, we need to move!" Jack shoved Mark back through the open door and the pair hit the deck as the whole cabin short circuited, all of the electronics sparking and exploding. The pair panted on the ground for a couple of seconds before a large tremor beneath them made their hearts leap into their chests.

They shared a look before they scrambled back to their feet, dashing to a less open area. Just as the windows of the monorail shattered from the force of the tremor Mark and Jack skidded to a halt inside the join between two of the carriages - one of the few areas not surrounded by glass - and shielded their faces from the flying glass. "Shitting  _fuck_!" Mark exclaimed as the shaking continued for a few more seconds before stopping. They breathed heavily at the sudden peace, but their hearts were racing. "What the fuck was that?"

Jack didn't miss the terrified edge to Mark's voice and he couldn't help but empathise with him. "It felt like an earthquake. Shit, this really isn't good. What the hell are we going to do now?"

Static started coming through from loudspeakers overhead and both of them jumped, worried for what this meant. Just as they took a couple of nervous steps back, a voice began to materialize in snippets. It wasn't enough to make anything out, but they did realise one thing. It  _wasn't_ Anti.

That single realisation helped them relax slightly and they both continued to stare upwards, waiting. It took about another thirty seconds of garbled noise to come through before they understood anything.

" _H-…Gu-…C-n -u -ar me? Co-… -n!"_

As it slowly became clearer they looked up in hope: and then they finally understood enough to realise it was a friendly voice.

" _Guys! Can y- hear me? Jack? Mark?"_

They shared an incredulous look as Jack shouted back, scarcely able to believe what they were hearing. It was a voice they would know anywhere.

"Alix?!"


	7. Calm Before The Storm

Neither of them could quite believe their ears. When they had awoken in Mesmeria they thought they were completely on their own, scrambling through the nightmarish world which Anti had twisted and manipulated to suit whatever demented plan he and Damien had conjured. All they could do was somehow try and find Matt, free him of Damien's control, and then get the hell out of there. They hadn't for one second thought about help.

But here it was: somehow Alix had managed to reach them.

"Alix?" Jack shouted up. They didn't know if they needed to shout, or even if she could hear them.

" _Come on guys, please answer me! Jack, Mark, please tell me you're okay."_

They could both hear the concern thick in her voice, even though it was still slightly garbled. Mark snarled in frustration at her second message. "Dammit, she can't hear us. There must be some sort of radio or something we can use to speak to her. Let's have a look around," he suggested to Jack, though the younger man was already way ahead of him. Jack strode through to the carriage behind as Mark began examining the one they had just evacuated. His eyes first fell to the smouldering cab at the front, smelling all the burnt rubber and metal as the components continued to spark. It was a good thing Jack had shoved them out of there in time.

Alix's stricken voice continued to project through the area for the next few minutes as the pair searched high and low for anything they could see which could be a form of communication. It was Mark who finally found something. He noticed in one of the sections between the window was what looked like a control panel, though everything was dead to the touch without power. His eyes then fell to the oddly shaped outline next to it: it was almost cylindrical, and only a few inches across. It almost reminded Mark of a fuse. Inspiration struck him as he rummaged around in the bag on his hip, pulling out one of the small items inside. When he held it up, he smiled – it was a perfect fit.

"Here goes," he whispered, examining it carefully to make sure he was inputting it the right way round before committing. As soon as the piece was connected the whole carriage lit up, all the systems powering back up. "Yes! Sean, over here!" Jack had instantly noticed the power up and rushed back to Mark, watching as the older man began pressing some of the buttons to try and communicate back to Alix. "Alix, can you hear us?" he spoke loudly, repeating the process with each failed attempt as he went through all of the options before them.

They finally succeeded on the fifth try.  _"Mark! Oh, thank god you're all right! Please tell me Jack is with you?"_

Jack smiled as he shouted back. "Yep, I'm here too, Alix. Just about, anyway," he finished with a small chuckle, at which Mark smiled at him.

" _Are you guys okay?"_

"As okay as we can be, all things considered," Mark assured her. "Alix, how are you doing this? How can you communicate with us?"

" _Honestly? I've no fucking idea how this is working. I thought you guys would maybe see the text version of what I was saying or something and we could communicate like that, but getting to hear your voices has me completely perplexed."_

"Wait…how does that work?"

" _I'm still in Glaysha, guys. I've no idea how cross-simulation communication is even possible."_ That caused both Jack and Mark to look at each other in shock.  _"How are you guys holding up in Mesmeria?"_

"We'll go with 'just barely' for now," Jack admitted. "How did you even know we were in here?"

" _I was keeping an eye on the command flows for Glaysha, and I noticed when you were all due to upload. When you didn't appear, I went and dug deeper."_

"So, you know what happened then?"

" _Yeah. There was a redirect program triggered when Matt was part of the upload, which sent all three of you to Mesmeria. It also forwarded on Anti, unfortunately…I honestly thought he was gone."_

Jack scoffed humourlessly. "It's kinda hard to kill a computer program with digital weapons. We should have all known it was never going to be that easy."

Mark turned to look at Jack, concern on his face. The Irishman gave him a tight smile back: behind his semi-positive front, he was struggling. Knowing he was going to have to help Jack with that later, Mark turned his attention back to their companion. "Alix, is there any way you can find Matt? We haven't found any sign of him, and what Anti said about him has me really concerned."

Alix was silent for a couple of seconds.  _"I take it that you guys have seen Anti then?"_

"Yep, that glitchy bastard didn't wait long to show up, and he's trying his damnedest to rattle Sean. It's easy done in this place, though, Mesmeria gives him a hell of a lot of power compared to what he had in Glaysha."

She swore on the other end.  _"Of course, Anti is a literally based off a computer glitch. He's going to be a nightmare in there, and he was dangerous enough_ _ **here**_ _. Hang on, I'll look in the game codes to see if I can trace Matt's location."_ It was a few seconds later that she responded, and the tone of her voice made their hearts drop: she sounded scared.  _"Oh fuck…"_

They shared a look. "Alix?" Jack asked nervously.

" _Guys, what did Anti say about Matt?"_

"He said that the Dreamscape was having an issue separating Matt and Damien, that having both of them in the same body was causing problems."

" _As much as I wish it wasn't the case, Anti was telling the truth, guys. From what I am seeing on here…it's not Matt that is showing up on the system. Something has gone very wrong."_

Mark swallowed hard before speaking again. "What does that mean, Alix?" Just then, another rumble started beneath their feet. The pair's eyes widened as the ground began to shake violently and they swiftly grabbed anything to stabilize themselves. A loud groaning of metal from outside had them sharing a fearful look, and it soon proved to be well-founded as the whole monorail suddenly tipped to the right by a few degrees. " _Shit!"_ Mark screeched as he held on tighter to the pole in his hands, while Jack kept his death-grip on the seat he had anchored himself to.

The earthquake stopped after about half a minute, but both of their hearts were threatening to burst out of their chests. That was a terrifying experience, and swiftly brought them back to the danger of their situation: they were currently immobilized in a monorail about twenty stories above the ground, and if that jolt was any indication, they were  _not_ going to be safe if another tremor hit. "Fuck…Mark, are you all right?" Jack asked breathlessly as he stood up again, wobbling slightly due to the angle of the floor.

Mark nodded and reached out for a pole at the other side, the pair of them freezing when they heard the whole structure groan at the change in weight as Mark moved further down the slope. "Shit…this thing is really unsteady. Sean, whatever you do… Do. Not. Move." Jack nodded, but contrary to Mark's instructions he backed as far away from the other man as possible, trying to counterbalance Mark's weight. They both held their breath as Mark inched closer to the control panel, letting it out as he finally re-established a connection. "Alix, are you still there?"

" _Yeah, I'm here. What the hell happened, guys? That sounded pretty loud."_

"Earthquake, and its destabilized our train. We're currently tilting at an angle, and this thing has no power to move again. Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

" _Wait, wait, wait…an_ _ **earthquake**_ _? Guys, Mesmeria doesn't have that mechanic, it is built as a purely technical world. It doesn't have anything in it to_ _ **cause**_ _earthquakes."_ That caused Mark and Jack to both go pale.  _"Fuck…I can't control anything from here! All I can do is see the codes, I can't change anything._ _ **Shit!**_ _"_ They turned to look at each other, hearing the panic in Alix's voice. She wasn't one to swear quite so frequently.  _"Guys, I'm going to need you to do me a favour."_

"Anything, Alix."

" _See if you can climb on top of that train. I've got an idea."_

"Wait, Alix, you just said you can't control anything, how can you help us?" Jack shouted from across the carriage.

" _I can't do anything from Glaysha….but I could inside Mesmeria."_

Mark and Jack both stood in shock. "Alix, can you  _come_ here?"

They didn't like the hesitation on the other end.  _"Honestly, I don't know, but I have a theory. That redirect program that sent you to Mesmeria was activated once you guys hit the Mental Matrix. If I can get to it and trigger it, I should be able to follow the same series of commands to reach you, I'll just have to fiddle with them slightly."_

Jack suddenly understood what she was getting at and shook his head vehemently. "No way, Alix! That means you attempting to use the exit portal, and if you upload yourself and can't use that command, you'll be stuck there! You'll…" Jack swallowed hard. They had talked about this during one of his visits: the whole reason Alix never interacted with the portal before, after she fixed it, was because she couldn't  _go_ anywhere from the Mental Matrix. She'd be perpetually stuck there, so the Dreamscape never allowed her to interact with it.

Now, she  _did_ have another possible destination. Except the Dreamscape wasn't designed to instantly shift minds between simulations without releasing them first.

" _Jack, we don't have a choice. I have a terrible feeling about this and I just_ _ **can't**_ _sit and watch you guys suffer. I can't access permissions for Mesmeria inside Glaysha, and I'll never forgive myself if I don't at least try."_

"Alix…just,  _please,_ be careful."

" _Don't worry, Jack, I will. Both of you, be safe. I'll see you soon, I hope."_

With that Alix disconnected and the pair shared a heavy look. Mark could see the worry all over Jack's face. "She's a smart one, Sean. She won't take the risk if she's not sure it won't work."

Jack sighed explosively. "That's not what I'm worried about, Mark! It's one more person for Anti to take a shot at… I don't doubt that she can find the way to make it, we all know just how good she is at programming. I can't help but worry that Anti has some sort of trap waiting for her: I'll never forgive myself if he hurts her."

Mark didn't answer that, knowing that nothing he said could help. The only thing that could, would hopefully soon be with them. "Give me a hand, Sean. Alix said we should try and get on to the roof of this thing, we need to look for an access hatch or something."

Happy for the distraction, the pair soon got to work. Jack inched along the raised section of the carriage, mirroring Mark's movements on the opposite side. There were no more protests to their movement so long as they didn't change their level, so the pair walked instead of crept as time went on. It took them a few minutes to finally spot the hatch inside the fourth carriage, but they couldn't really see how they were going to get up there. It was almost nine feet up, and there wasn't anything they could use as a step up.

Reluctantly, they realised there was only one real way they could get up there. With slight trepidation they inched towards the centre, looking up at the sealed panel above them. "Looks like its fixed on, can you see a catch?" Mark asked as they winced at the groaning of the metal around them.

Jack shook his head. "No, and I get the feeling the switch was probably in that cab which shorted out earlier. Shall we try and shoot it out?"

Mark chuckled. "Never thought I'd see the day that you would suggest using a gun." Jack just rolled his eyes as Mark retrieved his weapon and aimed at one side. After four well aimed shots he reached up as high as he could and pushed the hatch with his gun, looking to see if it would give. The metal held firm, but Mark could feel it was weakening. Another three shots saw it crumple along one edge before Mark pushed it out and then swung the gun back on to his back. "All right, how do you want to do this? Either we can boost one of us up and then catch the other, or we have one of us hold on to the edge to act as a ladder."

"Hmmm, let's go with the first one. I'll give you a boost, then you haul me up."

With the plan now fixed, Jack stood under the hatch and linked his hands together. Mark then placed a foot in the grip, making sure Jack was ready. "You good?" Jack nodded back to him. "Okay, on three. One. Two. Three!" Mark jumped as Jack pushed him onwards, giving Mark enough height to grab on to the ledge. He hauled himself up through the gap and spun back, leaning down to give Jack a hand. "All right, whenever you're ready." After a couple of seconds psyching himself up Jack jumped, linking his arms together with Mark's. The half-Korean pulled Jack up enough so that the Irishman could gain a grip on the edge and push himself through.

"Nice, you all right, Mark?" The older man nodded at him as they looked around. Without so many buildings around their monorail the wind was biting, and Jack had a small freak out now that he could see just  _how_ high up they were. "Oh,  _fuck! This is high!"_

Mark looked across in alarm as Jack's voice rose about half an octave. "Sean! We're fine, we're not going anywhere…Look at me!" Jack turned and Mark could see just how wide-eyed he was. Thinking quickly, he pulled out the glass tablet that was gibberish to him and held it out for Jack. "Here, look at this. Maybe you can help me solve this while we wait for Alix?"

The distraction worked and the pair sat for another half an hour puzzling over the variety of lines and colours, unable to make head nor tails of it. They tried looking at it from different angles, tapping all angles of the tablet – they even tried looking at it through the back – but nothing made sense. Fortunately, there had been no more earthquakes, but they couldn't help to worry about Alix.

A noise from behind Mark made the pair of them turn and they watched in shock as they saw the line next to them illuminate in yellow. In the distance they could just make out the speck of another monorail approaching at high speed and they shared a concerned look, wondering what it meant. They were even more worried when they saw it begin to slow down. Not trusting anything in this world after what they had seen and escaped, the pair drew their rifles and sat prepared to fight their way out of anything which came their way.

The yellow monorail stopped just next to their own; Mark and Jack tensed as they waited for the worst to happen.

One of the doors in the carriage directly opposite their own opened and Mark sat up, hoping to get a glimpse of what was about to approach them. What he didn't expect was to see nothing there. "What the…"

Jack too leant over and he looked further down the carriage, seeing a figure running down from the control cab at the front. It was a figure he would know anywhere. "Mark…" The half-Korean noticed when Jack lowered his gun and swung it on to his back.

Two seconds later, a bright smiling face appeared in the doors - and was she ever a sight for sore eyes. "Hey guys!" she shouted while giving a large wave.

Mark and Jack both broke out into matching grins. "Alix! How..?"

"I dropped into the monorail terminal, so I could work out how I needed to get here. Are you guys okay?" she asked while working on opening the corresponding hatch on her train.

"Yeah, good as we can be," Mark answered as they stood up. "All right, so what's the plan?"

Alix winced as she finally got the roof hatch open. "Umm…this is where I say you guys are going to have to…jump."

Jack swiftly went pale as he stared at the gap between the two carriages: it was at least eight feet. "Please tell me you are joking, Alix," he said in a small voice. His vertigo settled in his stomach with a vengeance.

She gave an apologetic smile. "I wish I was, guys, but your monorail is completely dead. I tried reactivating it at the terminal and I got nowhere, I couldn't even figure out what was wrong! This was the only idea I could come up with, and these earthquakes you were telling me about have me seriously concerned. All of this is way bigger than just Anti screwing around with the simulation." Alix could see the fear in Jack's eyes and tried to catch his attention. "Jack." The Irishman met her gaze. "You can do this. It's just one jump."

He swallowed hard, and Mark lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She's right, dude," he reassured. "Just one little jump."

Jack snorted. "Or not so little… Oh fuck it, let's get this over with." The pair took a couple of steps back and shared a look before running across the top of the carriage. Their hearts leapt into their throats as they first heard the groaning beneath their feet, and then sailed through the air to get across the gap. They landed with a hard crunch on the other train, each of them grabbing a side of the open access hatch to stop them from sliding off the opposite edge.

With unsteady breath they looked at each other and laughed briefly, relieved that it was over. Jack swiftly dropped through the hole, glad to be out of the cold, and scooped Alix into a massive hug. She gripped back fiercely, relieved to see they were both safe, before they heard Mark drop in too. They opened their arms up and the three ended up in a tight three-way embrace. "I'm so relieved that you are all right," she breathed out, still in slight shock to see them.

The pair pulled back and took a good look at her for the first time. "You too. Whoa…whoever came up with the outfit designs in this place needs some credit," Mark replied, causing Alix to giggle. She posed dramatically and the other two laughed at her. This outfit was vastly different from her one in Glaysha, and just like Mark and Jack, it gave her a slightly more sinister edge. Dark blue leggings vanished into combat boots of the same colour, while her torso was covered by a long, black top. It was strapless and came to an end just past her hips, though the bottom was torn so that one end was much longer than the other. Separate deep purple sleeves ran all the way up each of her arms, only stopping at the curve of her shoulders, while it was held in place by straps which crossed either side of her neck. Just like Mark she also had several loose ties of fabric across her, but they concentrated mainly on her arms and were the same blue as her leggings.

Alix blushed as the pair stared at her new outfit, swatting them playfully. "Hey, cut that out! You guys are making me go scarlet! The outfits are really cool, I love yours too. It makes you guys more…I dunno, darker is the best word I can come up with? It fits this world a lot better, I guess." Her eyes hardened as the situation sank back in. "Right, we need to get out of here. Follow me and I'll get us to where we need to go."

And just like that, they were all refocused on the peril of their surroundings. Mark and Jack followed as she strode back to the control pod and restarted their monorail, watching in awe as her fingers deftly flew across the panels. "Oh, here," she spoke slightly distractedly, holding out several brightly coloured cards for the pair to take. "I grabbed all the monorail passes I could. It's not all of them, but it'll hopefully be enough for us to get to wherever we need to go in here."

Mark and Jack took a hold of all the cards, skimming them all in interest.

_**Red Line Pass** _

_**Yellow Line Pass** _

_**White Line Pass** _

_**Purple Line Pass** _

"Sweet, this will definitely come in handy, thanks Alix," Jack commented, as the pair split the cards between them, Mark taking the Red and White ones to go with his Blue pass as Jack took the Yellow and Purple cards.

Once she was finished with the controls the monorail jolted back to life, quickly getting up to speed. They stumbled slightly as it restarted, and Alix spun back to them with a smile. "I wish I could have grabbed all of them, but I know the rest are probably scattered throughout the landscape. We're still missing the Green pass, which is the major line from what I could tell out from the terminal maps, so that will probably be hidden somewhere. The rest we can probably work around, a lot of the monorails cross paths."

Mention of all the colours brought Mark's mind back to the tablet they had been trying to solve and he grabbed the pouch at his hip, emptying the contents for the other two to see. "Okay, now that we have a moment to breathe, any idea what all this stuff is? I know the small tablet is a tracker, the bigger one Sean and I have been puzzling over but we can't solve it. One of these small cylindrical tubes helped to power back up the monorail, but I haven't the slightest idea what all these pieces of metal are."

Alix's eyes lit up at the items and she started giggling. "Huh, what's so funny, Alix?" Jack asked in confusion.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Wow…sorry guys, I just couldn't help myself. Okay, so like Glaysha, Mesmeria has a class system too, it's just a lot more subtle. Actually, Jack you might have noticed yours already." The Irishman gave her a strange look. "Have you noticed that you might be pretty adept with that gun, even though I'm sure you've never handled anything like it in your life?" Jack's eyes shadowed, but he nodded. "You're a Marksman: you're basically a combat character in here. While the rest of us may struggle slightly with our aim in here, you've got an instinctive sharpness. It's a little bit like Matt in Glaysha."

Jack's shoulders slumped. "So…I'm  _meant_ to fight in here? That wasn't what I was hoping to hear."

Alix smiled at him sympathetically. "Sorry, Jack, I know how you feel about violence. We didn't have any control over what class we are in here, though, it's relatively random. I'm pretty sure I'm a Technician, I have this instinctive knowledge of the technology in here. I've made a few too many lucky guesses on how this stuff works for me to think I'm anything else."

Mark raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay…that doesn't explain why you were laughing though."

She bit her lip lightly. "Umm…Mark, you're not going to believe this, but you're an Engineer. All that equipment helps you fix anything which is powered down or any doors which are jammed shut."

The other two looked at her in disbelief before Jack burst out laughing. "Oh, the irony! As much as I wish it had been Mark who was the combat character, that is way too damn funny." Mark couldn't help but laugh himself in agreement. It  _was_ pretty ironic.

Alix then reached out to take the final glass tablet and sighed in exasperation. "Well, my gut instinct says this tablet is actually a map of Mesmeria. Unfortunately, we won't be able to use it for a while. We'll need to find a decryption key somewhere. It's a shame none of us are Hackers, they can unlock any encrypted software instantly."

Mark sighed. "Is encryption going to be a big problem in here?" Alix shrugged, her eyes relaying her apology. Mark winced and placed and hand on her arm. "Sorry, Alix. I guess we're just kind of used to you having all the answers in here, but you're in the same boat as us in Mesmeria. You don't know that much about this place, do you?"

She shook her head resignedly. "No, I don't. And it's-I hate it. I don't mean to sound pompous or anything here guys but…I liked that security. You know, of me actually  _knowing_ the world. I really feel…scared, here. I don't know what to do and it's scaring the shit out of me."

Jack gave her a one-armed hug, which made her smile slightly. "Here's a secret, Alix. We're scared shitless too." She giggled at his joke and the pair shared a genuine hug for a couple of seconds. "Now we've just got to figure out how to save Matt." He felt as she went rigid next to him. "Alix, you said you found something. Can you show us?"

Alix swallowed hard as she moved to the side of the cab, typing on the illuminated glass panel to bring up the players statuses. She paused right before she opened the final screen, turning back to Jack and Mark. "Guys, this…I don't know what this means, but- Are you sure you want to see this?" They nodded at her and she exhaled sharply as she hit the final keys before stepping away, unwilling to look at the data again. After looking at her in confusion they turned to the screen, the breath in both their chests catching.

They didn't need to be as informed with programming as she was to know there was something  _seriously_ wrong.

_**Active: Mark Fischbach. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: Yellow Monorail #6** _

_**Active: Sean McLoughlin. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: Yellow Monorail #6** _

_**Active: Alix Cathroe. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: Yellow Monorail #6** _

_**Active: /#ERROR! /M/%*a#%!tt,,%he))w Fr/\ed%?ri!ck%#. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: /#ERROR! Indeterminate. WARNING: Data Corruption Detected, Reboot Initializing** _

_**Active: /#ERROR! /M/%*a#%!tt,,%he))w Fr/\ed%?ri!ck%#. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: /#ERROR! Indeterminate. WARNING: Data Corruption Detected, Reboot Initializing** _

_**Active: /#ERROR! /M/%*a#%!tt,,%he))w Fr/\ed%?ri!ck%#. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: /#ERROR! Indeterminate. WARNING: Data Corruption Detected, Reboot Initializing** _

The message kept on repeating and repeating, the lines seeming to go on forever. Both Mark and Jack's hearts squeezed at seeing the endless loop, but it was the same three words which they kept freezing on – 'Data Corruption Detected'. "Jesus-" Jack choked out, he too turning away. Mark kept staring at the screen, unable to tear his eyes away even as the nausea in his stomach continued to build.

_God, Matt... Please be all right, please let us be able to save you._

A rumble started below their feet and the trio all overbalanced as the tremor struck hard. Alix screamed when the windows began to crack and was swiftly pulled into the doorframe by both Jack and Mark, the trio crouching down and shielding their faces as they shattered. The monorail juddered to a halt under the force and they stayed huddled together as they waited it out, all their hearts racing as the metal around them sounded like it was struggling under the strain.

This time it took around a minute for it to subside, and all of them stayed frozen to the spot for a good few seconds after it ended. Mark was the first to attempt standing, offering hands to both the other two as they also regained their feet. All of them were in slight shock as they took in the damage, despite the fact this was far from the first tremor Mark and Jack had felt; though it was definitely the strongest. "Shit, that was a bad one," Jack said unsteadily, keeping a hand on Alix's arm before turning to look at her. "You okay, Alix?"

She nodded strongly before striding over to the console she had been working on before, ruthlessly shoving away all the glass fragments. A hiss escaped her as she cut herself on a couple of fragments and Mark noticed the angry red line which appeared on the back of her right hand. "Careful, Alix," he urged, moving to untie one of the strips on her arm.

"I'm fine, Mark," she answered shortly, but couldn't hide the wince as he took a hold of her hand. She gave him an apologetic and grateful gaze as he wrapped her hand, gasping when he tightened the wrapping to try and stem the bleeding. "Thank you, you didn't need to do that."

He gave her a small smile. "No problem. What are you doing?"

"I hope I'm dismissing my feeling on what those earthquakes are – I just can't shake this horrible suspicion in my mind." Both YouTubers watched as she continued typing, seeing the lines of codes fly by on the screen before she froze at one screen. "Oh god…this is  _so_ not good." They came to look over her shoulder each, both focusing on the lines she pointed out.

**_WARNING_ **

**_Mesmeria parameters unstable, simulation stability at 54%._ **

**_Immediate withdrawal and shutdown is recommended to prevent loss of data._ **

They turned to look at each other in confusion. "Alix?" Mark asked unsteadily.

She hesitated before answering. "Those earthquakes…they are the simulation destabilising. They're only going to get worse over time. And one of them is going to bring the whole thing crashing down."

Mark and Jack looked at her in concern. "And what's going to happen to us if that happens?"

Alix turned to look at them, showing them the fear in her eyes. "I don't know. But what happens to a game when it crashes without saving?"

They paled as her meaning sank in. "You lose everything. Are you saying if this thing goes down with us still inside that we'll be…?"

"I have no idea, but…I think anyone still in Mesmeria when it crashes will be lost."


	8. Desperate Measures

The journey to their destination was not long, but the tension in the room made it feel like an age. Everyone couldn't help but fear what lay ahead now that they knew the true danger of their situation. It was entirely possible that when the simulation collapsed, they would all just be ejected from the Dreamscape. Except…things rarely went that well for them. And even if that were true, the question would remain over what would happen to Alix, since she had no body to go back to.

No, they were going to have to find their way out Mesmeria as fast as possible. Finding Matt was now their top priority, but they knew they would have to keep an eye out for the exit portal. If they couldn't find that, then nothing else would matter.

For once, something in their life was easy.

When the monorail stopped at a station within the city, near a large glass plateau, the trio jumped off. From Alix's meagre knowledge that she'd managed to gain at the terminal, this was a major crossing point for almost all the prominent routes. As soon as they stepped off the train their eyes were all drawn to their surroundings. Now in the heart of the city, all the buildings towered above them; even Mark and Alix felt a little dizzy when they looked up and couldn't see the top. They didn't dare think what it was doing for Jack's vertigo. While the number of buildings surrounding them made it feel like it was quite cramped around them, they couldn't help but stare at the plateau in more detail.

Unlike everything else they had seen of the futuristic metropolis, there was actually a trace of nature here: even though it seemed unusual itself. Blossom trees were dotted around the landscape in very precise gaps, and with the breeze which blew through the area, it meant that a constant shower of white petals coated the glass. Fountains were spraying water in each corner, while there was an information booth next to each water display. They all made a note of the info points as they continued to look around. A quick look beneath their feet showed they were still a few stories above the ground, but they could at least now see.

They didn't expect what was at the bottom, however.

It was clear which areas of the simulation Anti and Damien had been focusing on, and what they had chosen to neglect. Almost all of what should have been the ground, was in fact blackness penetrated by bright blue grid lines. The edge of the world. Breath caught in each of their chests before they swiftly brought their eyes back up. None of them wanted to think what might happen if they fell into that abyss.

Knowing that time was not on their side, Alix led the other two over to the information point closest to them. She tapped on the glass panelling, sighing in frustration when it remained dim and lifeless. Mark sprang into action, pulling one of his mobile power units out from his pouch and slipping in place when he found the slot. The terminal burst into life, glass illuminating a pale red colour as lines of information started flowing across the main screen. "All right," Alix breathed before studying what it said, "let's see what we've got here. Any suggestions on what we look for first?"

Mark narrowed his eyes at the screens. "Maybe we can get a map up? Or maybe the decryption key is inside here and we can use that to unlock the one we have?" Alix nodded at his suggestion and started typing away at the touchpad which appeared on her right-hand side, just at waist height. It felt so bizarre to be in the futuristic world, but they didn't really have much time to be admiring it.

Jack, on the other hand, was keeping a close eye on their surroundings. After the flash he had seen of Anti inside the monorail, he wasn't taking any chances as to what shit the demented glitch was going to pull. He watched each window and lit panel warily, just waiting for something to appear. Anti was going to have something planned, he wasn't just going to let them wander around so easily. With razor sharp focus he wandered further into the plaza, making sure they wouldn't find any unwanted company.

What he didn't expect, was what lay at the other end. Homing in on the oddity, Jack stared at it confusion for a couple of seconds, a disbelieving smile appearing on his face before shouting to his companions. "Guys…you're not going to believe this." Mark and Alix both turned their gazes towards him, at which Jack beckoned them over with a wave. "You'd better take a look, make sure I'm not going completely mad."

The pair walked over to him, and after following his direction, they too stared in wonderment. "Is that…?" Mark asked aloud.

Alix's eyes lit up in astonishment. "It can't be!" With that the trio raced over, covering the two hundred metre distance at top speed. They were all breathless as they got close, but Mark and Jack were beaming. "It is! It's the fucking portal!" Jack cheered.

"Except…it looks like it's…" Mark spoke softly, his enthusiasm fading as they took a closer look. The vibrant white fire was greyed out, and almost appeared frozen in time. "It looks different."

Following a hunch, Alix stared at the ground below the portal. A dimmed circle of panels surrounded it, and she could see the groves cut into the glass floor which connected them to power. "It's because it's not active. Like everything else in here, it runs on power. We'll have to find where to turn it on," she surmised, trusting her instincts as she stared at the surroundings.

"How'd you figure that one out?"

"Gut instinct. That's kinda how my Technician skills work…I think."

"Great…we can just add that to the fucking list," Mark sighed in frustration.

Jack smiled as he took a small break from studying the area. "Well, it's a start at least. We know where the portal is, now we've just got to find Matt and activate it. The problem is…how the hell do we do that with Anti watching our every move?"

Mark thought of something and abruptly straightened up. "Wait a minute. Anti's been watching us this whole time, hasn't he? Why doesn't he send those sentries after us permanently, or even get in our way more?"

Alix pondered this. "Maybe Anti was bluffing us slightly. It's undeniable that he is a presence here, but maybe there's a limit to his influence. This place isn't finished after all, and the simulation is already unstable. It could be that he can only do so much."

"So…he's just lurking? And going for the creep factor?" Mark asked, unsure.

The programmer winced. "I don't know, but it's a better thought than he's just leading us all into a trap." Her eyes switched to Jack, seeing his tense posture and how his gaze kept darting around. "Jack." The Irishman spun back to her, and she could see how jumpy he was. Mark too was concerned. He was really rattled. She tentatively laid a hand on his forearm, hoping to reassure him. "We'll get out of here, okay? Anti isn't going to get a hold of any of us. We've beaten him once, we can do it again."

Jack let out a long sigh and nodded back at her. "Thanks, Alix. I needed to hear that. Sorry for about jumping out of my skin." He slapped himself in the face lightly, trying to snap himself out of his frazzled state, before taking a deep breath. "Okay. So, if this thing is powered, that means there has to be a switch somewhere. Maybe we can use the information point to find it?"

It seemed as good a suggestion as any, so the trio wandered back to one of the hubs to search for any clues. A few minutes later, they struck gold. "Bingo," Alix declared as she found what they were looking for. "If I'm reading this map correctly, there's a power station in the eastern part of the city. We can use the white and red monorails to get there, but it's still going to be a bit of a hike from what I can see."

Mark sighed deeply, rubbing his head as he felt a tension headache coming on, before he turned away. Both Jack and Alix looked at him in confusion. "Mark?" Jack asked.

From their point on the plateau, the group could see the whole northern section of the city. While skyscrapers surrounded most of the plaza, the area behind the portal was clear, giving the scale of just how  _enormous_ the world felt. It reminded them of when Alix had taken them to the highest point of Glaysha. The sense of just how  _small_ they were compared to the environment was incredible…but it was unnerving this time, as opposed to awe-inspiring. It was a big place, and they were a lot more vulnerable than before.

Mark stood upon the edge of one of the fountains, staring out into the distance. As he continued to rub his head, he could feel a tingle in his stomach, almost making him jump. Suspicious, he started looking at the scenery around him in more detail. He could just make out the outlines of the buildings in the distance through the smog which seemed to fill the gaps of the city, but that wasn't what was had his attention. It was almost like a…pull. Something was drawing him, but he wasn't sure what it was. "Alix, is there anything odd to you about the northern section of the city?"

She blinked before turning back to the map. "Umm, no, not that I can see. Mark, what's up?"

He kept staring out, trying to grab a hold of the feeling inside him. Jack came to stand next to him, looking for what Mark was apparently seeing. "Dude, you okay?" he asked in concern.

The half-Korean nodded slowly, finally managing to focus the urge a bit more. One building was standing out to him, and he stared at it harder. "Alix, how do we get over there?"

Alix studied the map again, pausing as she realised that Mark might be on to something. "Mark, why are you asking?"

"I don't know. I've just got this feeling about one of the buildings over there. Why?"

"That whole section is covered by the green line – the one pass we don't have. I think that's a hell of a co-incidence."

Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked back over the landscape. "Mark, which building is it?"

Mark stretched out a hand and pointed to one which came to a sharp point at the top, unlike many of the other towers in the area. "There, that one. I've just got this...it's almost like something is drawing me to it."

The Irishman turned back to shout to their companion. "Alix, look for a building on there which is pointed at the top!"

She sighed in frustration. "I've got a top-down view, guys, I can't discern features like that. See if any of the other buildings around there have odd configurations!"

Taking the instruction on board, the pair began looking for any other features which may be of use. Mark was the first one to see something. "Hang on, those two skyscrapers seem to be connected by a bridge. Alix, can you see two towers which are connected by a walkway?"

Alix beamed as she found it. "Yes! Where am I looking?"

"Closer to us, and about seven buildings to the left!"

As soon as Mark said that, Alix knew he was on to a winner. "Well, I don't know what that urge is about, Mark, but it's not wrong. The map says there's nothing there."

Jack and Mark turned to stare at each other wide-eyed. "A building that isn't there…" Jack whispered.

Mark spun back to stare at it with hard eyes, the pieces now falling into place. "I know what it is now. It's Damien. He's trying to draw me to him; Anti's hiding that building on the map so we can't find them."

Hearing his hypothesis, Alix sprinted up to them and joined Jack in staring at him in disbelief. "Wait, Mark are you sure?" she questioned softly.

He nodded at them. "It has to be. I sincerely doubt Damien intended to be trapped in a reboot cycle with Matt. The only way either of them is going to get out of it, is with outside interference. Damien knows we won't leave Matt behind."

"Okay, so the question becomes…how the hell do we split them apart?" Jack wondered.

"And how do we get over there?" Alix added. "We couldn't find a pass for that monorail before. Anti must have hidden it somewhere."

Mark couldn't help but smile at their reactions. Despite knowing just how dangerous Damien was, neither of them was afraid to jump in to try and save Matt. That, and he was extremely glad they didn't think he was losing his mind. If he was honest with himself, he hadn't been fully convinced by his own theory: but Jack and Alix's response helped to assure him.

Not that it was necessarily good news, but at least now they had a direction.

"Alix, can we use the terminal to look up where to get all the monorail passes? Maybe it has a suggestion," Mark asked. Eyes lighting up at the idea, Alix jumped back down and began typing. The other two joined her soon after.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed as she got a hit on her search. "Okay, there is a security block at the end of the plaza. Apparently, the master copies of all the passes are kept there. We should be able to grab it in there, and then use the monorail to get to that building."

"Wait a minute, security block? That'll mean…" Jack didn't finish his statement, the pit in his stomach growing.

"More sentries." Alix turned to give Jack a reassuring smile before she spoke again. "We can hopefully sneak by them. You said that Anti hasn't sent any of them after you so far, maybe he can't?" Jack looked unconvinced, and the other two couldn't blame him. A lot of it was just guesswork at this point. "Do you mind if I take that pistol, Jack? It's probably a good idea if I've got something to fight back with."

The Irishman nodded as he held it out for her. "It's got a fair recoil on it, so be careful. Try not to use it one handed if you can avoid it."

Alix smiled at the advice and giggled. "You almost sound like you know what you're talking about, Jack," she teased with a wink.

He groaned. "Ha fucking  _ha,_ Alix." She then yelped as Jack quickly run his fingers up her sides, tickling her. Alix scowled at him as she leapt out of his reach, sticking her tongue out at him – which Jack quickly mirrored.

Mark couldn't help but snort at their antics. It made for a nice change from the tense atmosphere, and reminded him of their fun days in Glaysha. They seemed so far away now…

He hoped they would soon have the chance to recreate them.

* * *

The security block was fortunately not that hard to get into, with no sentries being posted on the outside. A quick sweep of the front foyer saw the area was clear, and after a bit of searching, they found the stairs which led up to the next level. That…was where their luck ended.

Sentries patrolled the corridors in groups of four throughout the whole of the next floor, and the trio shared a concerned glance when they realised the corridors were probably going to be too narrow for any hiding spots. Remembering the tracker in his kit, Mark pulled it out and they all watched from the stairs for a while to see if there was a pattern to their movements. After a minute or so they realised all the sentries were patrolling in a clockwise direction, which meant they could in theory avoid them as long as they kept moving in the same orientation.

And as long as they stayed out of sight of the group with would be following them. Leaving themselves sandwiched between groups of the machines made them all feel a bit sick, but they really didn't have much choice.

When a window appeared, Mark led them out. He and Alix traded weapons, the programmer taking his rifle while Mark took the pistol so that he could still be armed, but keep a hold of the tracker at the same time. Alix stayed by Mark's side as they crept through the corridors, Jack right on their tail as he kept an eye on their six. A few times the group behind very nearly caught sight of him and Jack urged the two ahead to get closer to the preceding group.

Alix and Mark didn't tell him just how close they were to the unit ahead. Jack finally said they were good when they were only three metres behind, and the tension made all their chests feel tight in fear. This was  _way_ too close for comfort.

When they spied an intersection up ahead, Mark swore quietly. With the way the machines were marching, they were only going to a have a gap of a few seconds to dash across it to make sure they weren't in sight of the groups coming from the right-hand corridor. He quickly whispered to the other two of the dilemma which lay ahead, and kept his eyes focused on the tracker hard. When their own group crossed the gap, Mark held out both his hands to make sure Jack and Alix stopped, before pressing them back against the right-hand wall. The trio flattened themselves as they saw another group stride past, waiting for another second before dashing across the opening, trying to stay as silent as possible while catching up.

Jack swore when he saw the following group turn into the corridor and sucked in a breath, hoping that they were out of visible range. Just as that happened, Mark made their group stop again as the patrol ahead of them reached another intersection. "Shit, Mark we can't stop!" Jack hissed.

"We can't go, Sean, they'll spot us!" Mark snapped back.

"We're about to get spotted from behind!" Jack's breath froze as the machines he was staring at stopped abruptly, and then drew their weapons. They were busted. "Fuck! Shoot them down!" he shouted loudly while firing rapidly with his rifle. Two swiftly fell to his barrage before he was inundated with lasers being shot back at him.

Not hesitating, Mark and Alix both fired their own weapons, their proximity to the group ahead now a blessing as they managed to take all four down with ease. They turned the corner and fired at the group which was about to emerge, catching them off-guard before diving around to take cover. It was just in the nick of time as they saw streams of red fly past from the corridor they had just vacated. Their breath caught as they thought of their third. "Jack," Alix whispered in terror, chancing a look around the corner, as Mark did the same.

Both of their hearts lodged themselves into their chests as they saw the crumpled form of the Irishman lying on the floor completely still. " _Jack!"_ Alix screamed, their bodies going cold when he didn't move or answer. Rage built inside both of them and they fired back at the two sentries which were shooting without pause. Mark felt heat blaze past his head and grabbed Alix when another group came running towards them from their left. The pair backed up along the corridor they had originally been following, weaving out of the way as best they could of any lasers which came their way, knowing they only had seconds before the rest of the sentries came into view.

They successfully shot the machines which had taken down Jack, and Mark chanced a look at the tracker, seeing there were two doors coming up behind them. "Alix, take cover in the room on your right!" he screamed, hearing the hiss of the mechanical doors opening on his left. The pair found shelter, taking a moment to breathe just before the barrage started up again as the rest of the machines rounded the corner of he intersection about ten metres away. "There's seven left!" he cried while putting the tracker down, his wrist aching from firing the pistol one-handed. Jack hadn't been kidding about the recoil on it.

Alix nodded, harshly brushing the moisture which had sprang to her eyes away. They couldn't afford that now. With a nod of determination they began their retaliation, the pair diving back into cover every few seconds when the assault became too much. The air burned from the intense laser-fire and the heat was palpable, distracting them as they tried to end the machines hunting them. Mark managed to damage one and destroy another as Alix successfully took out another. The distance was slowly closing however, and the pair shared a panicked glance as they were now only five metres away. The five remaining machines were going to overwhelm them if they got much closer.

Then, out of nowhere, everything changed.

Just as Mark and Alix were trying to take out the sentries closest to them, the two other functioning robots behind were shot in the back, destroying them. That caught the attention of the other undamaged ones, and it gave Mark and Alix the opening they needed to bring them down. The final machine was crawling around on the ground, firing with a pistol after Mark had shot its legs, and the pair could only watch as it was swiftly stopped with a shot to the back of the head.

Following the line of the laser which had brought it down, they both gasped in shock as they saw Jack sitting upright, hands shaking as he held the rifle before he fell back again, breathing heavily. "Sean!" Mark screamed as the pair ran to him.

They fell to their knees next to him as Jack tried to get his breathing back under control. "I'm fine, I'm not hurt," he assured them, exhaling sharply. Alix and Mark stared at him, making sure that there were no injuries before turning to look at each other, dumbfounded. They'd both seen him lying there…and then it clicked. Jack yelped as his stomach was slapped by a pissed off programmer. "Yeoch! Fucking hell Alix that stung!"

She shook with relief and anger as she breathed out raggedly. "Don't you  _ever_ fucking do that again, Jack!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't think of anything else to do other than play dead! There was no way I could get to cover in time!" He sat up and stared at her nervously, but he could see through the surface rage. He'd seen her do this a couple of times in the time he'd gotten to know her, and knew it was a coping mechanism she'd developed since being trapped. It was easier to get angry than to break down into tears. Jack shifted to his knees and embraced her in a tight hug, which Alix reciprocated with a choked sob. "I'm sorry, Alix. I really didn't mean to scare you, I just had to do  _something_."

Alix shuddered from the force of the scare. "I know, I'm sorry for how I reacted. I just- God, I thought-" She cut herself off and cried into his shoulder silently. They sat there for about thirty seconds before she pulled back with a splutter. "Shit, my bad. I didn't mean to break down on you there."

"Hey, it's okay. You know you can let your walls down with us," Jack reassured her with a smile. He spun his gaze to Mark and smiled timidly at him. "Sorry, dude. I just went with my gut."

Mark shook his head and hugged him fiercely. "Don't be sorry, Sean. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Just, please, try not to scare us like that again."

"Trust me, I don't plan on it anytime soon."

After a minute of sitting recovering from the situation, the trio stood again. They walked around and scavenged enough equipment to give everyone the full loadout of rifle, pistol and knife before recovering the tracker and exploring the rooms Mark and Alix had taken cover in.

The first room was not much help, it was just a storage room. They did however find some smoke grenades, which they figured would probably be very useful.

It was completely different story with the second. Lines of monitors comprised of the opposite wall, while shelves with a multitude of compartments lined the one on the right. The whole left wall was a window which overlooked the plaza down below. "Nice view," Mark commented as Alix strode further in, working her way through the computer. Jack got to work on scouring the stored items on the right-hand wall, Mark joining him but a few seconds later. The older man kept an eye on the tracker as they searched, however, making sure nothing would get the jump on them.

They kept working for several minutes before an earthquake rumbled through the area. It wasn't long or particularly intense, but it was enough to remind them of the time limit hanging over their heads. With intense focus on each of their tasks, the two men almost didn't notice when Alix spoke up. "Guys, I've got something."

After raising their heads at her call, Jack and Mark wandered over to see what she had found. "This seems to a console which controls the sentries, if these buttons are anything to go by."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Can I assume from your statement that you aren't actually sure?"

Alix sighed in frustration. "That's where this is annoying. I think this panel is connected to a wireless network throughout the city, but the power is at minimum levels. It just doesn't have the kick to execute the command I'm trying to put through."

"You're trying to shut them all down?"

"Yeah, but we haven't got enough juice. I might be able to re-route some if we get to that power station, but I don't know if we're going to need it given the exit portal is so close."

"It's probably better safe than sorry," Mark suggests. "We don't know if we can turn the portal on there yet, so it can't hurt." Alix nodded at him as she went back to typing. "Anything else of use here?"

"Not that I can see. Any luck with the pass?"

"Nothing yet. Fancy giving us a hand?"

They all searched for another fifteen minutes before Jack found the case they were looking for. "Jackpot!" he shouted, grabbing the others' attention. "Sweet, there are multiple copies of all the passes in here. Now we can take enough for each of us." He held out multiple versions of each card, giving them all the full set. Now they had all eight colours: Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Purple, Green, Black and Orange.

"Well, that was a pleasant surprise," Mark chuckled. "Not often something goes right."

Jack scoffed. "Don't fucking jinx us, dude. Come on, let's get out of here. We need to get to that power station ASAP."

All of them turned to leave, but were abruptly stopped by the flash of one screen at the end of the room. Their first instinct was to quickly turn and run, knowing that Anti could show up at any minute, but then something else caught their attention.

Silhouettes danced across the screen. A sharp green outline which was glitching in and out of existence, a black faded one which seemed to brighten and dim, and a blue one which was trying to smother both of them beneath its hue. All of them watched in fascinated horror as they saw the three colours fighting for dominance, the black and blue evenly matched before the green interfered. The outline seemed to grasp for the blue one which dove out of the way, but it meant the black one broke free. Now the black and green were slowly overpowering the blue, and the trio waited to see it vanish before the screen went completely static.

Then the same thing happened again. And again. In the space of ten minutes the same scene played out three times, each time with a slight change. It wasn't identical, but the ending always was: whenever the blue hue was about to be overpowered, the screen glitched and the scenario reset.

"What is this…?" Jack asked quietly.

"I don't know," Alix answered him just as softly.

Mark's head was spinning, and that same pull was back in his stomach. He now had a  _terrible_ feeling about what this was. "Alix…can you bring up the player statuses again?" She looked at him in confusion, but did as he asked, bringing them up on the screen next the scene.

They all watched in astonishment as the lines of code played out before them, and suddenly it all made sense. A horrific sense which gave them a terrible sense of dread.

_**Active: /#ERROR! /M/%*a#%!tt,,%he))w Fr/\ed%?ri!ck%#. Mesmeria Simulation Running. Area: /#ERROR! Indeterminate.** _

This message stayed there as they saw the three colours fighting with one another, and when the blue started to lose again, the next message appeared.

_**WARNING: Data Corruption Detected** _

Then, the screen went static and glitched out again, the final message accompanying it.

_**Reboot Initializing** _

"Oh my god," Alix gasped, holding her hands over her mouth.

"It's-"

"This is Matt, Damien and Anti," Mark worked out. "This is why Anti isn't interfering, he's involved in Matt and Damien's fight for control. Matt and Damien are evenly matched, but Anti comes into the equation and Matt knows he's going to lose. He's triggering the reboot loop himself to stop them seizing control."

They all stared at each other in horror.

"Then how the hell do we get him out?"


	9. When You Play With Fire...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this finished days ago, but AO3 decided to keep this saved as a draft *sigh*. Oh well, here we go!

It took a couple of minutes for the trio's minds to accept what they were seeing. Knowing that Matt was fighting Damien for control of his mind and body was one thing, but  _seeing_ it play out in a digital format in front of them…That was something else entirely. All of them felt the gnawing concern grow in their stomachs, along with the sudden realisation that they hadn't the faintest idea on how they could help.

Matt was trapped in a reboot cycle with Damien, and it seemed he was now doing it  _willingly_ to protect them.

Mark was the first one to find his voice again, but it still sounded hollow when it came out. "Does anyone have any ideas?" Alix shook her head mutely, while Jack remained still as a statue. None of them had the slightest clue of where to start, and the sensation which had clamped on to each of their hearts was both nauseating and chilling at the same time.

_Helplessness._

It was eventually Alix who volunteered to break the silence again. "There must be a way…we've got some time until we reach that area of the city, the monorail alone will take an hour. Let's have another look around this place and see if we can find anything else useful." The suggestion was gratefully received by both Mark and Jack, happy to have anything to distract them from the knowledge which was sickening both of them. Matt should never have been put in this position, and it ate away at them. Damien and Anti were using him to torture  _them_.

They shared a look as Alix moved away. Fire, determination and anger thrummed through each of them and was acknowledged by the other before they broke the stare. There was no way they were going to let this continue.

There had to be a way to stop the duo, once and for all.

Over the course of the next twenty minutes they found some other useful gadgets. Mark discovered some tiny futuristic looking headsets, and the three of them all put one on. It circled around the back of their heads, with a speaker coming to settle inside their right ear and a microphone built in. The accessory was comfortable and unobtrusive, while a little experimentation on Alix's part allowed them to figure out how it worked. Along the back of the headset was a long keypad, physical rather than the virtual ones they had mostly seen in this world so far, and it allowed them to set up various channels of communication. They soon had one for their group, as well as frequencies for the pairs individually. All of them knew having something like this was going to be incredibly handy if they had another stealth situation.

The greatest help, however, was when Jack found another glass tablet. While it initially appeared inactive, they soon saw in the bottom corner was a set of symbols scratched into the glass. It was Mark who suggested Alix try inputting that code on their map, and they were rewarded with the mess which had been displayed there before coming together into a coherent overview – and unlike the one in the information booths, this one was three dimensional.

Matching smiles broke out onto their faces as things started coming together. Their list of impossible tasks got just that little smaller.

Another rumble caught them slightly off guard and they shared a look of worry as it continued on past a minute in length. While it wasn't fierce, it was long. Knowing now what it was, Alix quickly hacked into the game codes again to see the simulation stability.

**_WARNING_ **

**_Mesmeria parameters unstable, simulation stability at 48%._ **

**_Withdraw all players and shut down immediately to prevent system corruption._ **

"Shit, that doesn't sound good," Mark whispered as they read the message.

"No kidding," Jack muttered in agreement. "I  _really_ don't like how the message underneath has changed."

Alix nodded sombrely. "I expect we have a few hours at best before this whole place comes crashing down, the stability is dropping really fast. And that's assuming this place will actually last until hitting 0%."

Jack winced. "So…Mesmeria could really go at any point?"

She sighed. "I don't know, guys, I'm sorry. The chances could just get higher as the stability goes down, or it could all go at once when it reaches zero. I-"

Mark gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm. "Hey, let's not stress about that, okay? Worrying about it won't help solve anything. We've found a lot of useful things here, let's not forget that. The question becomes, what do we do next?"

Alix reached for the map which they had placed on the desk next to the security terminal and studied it in detail, turning around to face Jack and Mark as she did so. "From what I can tell here, the power station is likely to be guarded, there is a depot for the sentries close by. The three of us probably wouldn't be enough to break in and get out safely."

"We need to free Matt first, then."

She nodded. "I don't know what class Matt will drop in as, but I'm sure it will be a help no matter what. We can reach the green monorail pretty easy from here…but just like before I can't see that building on the map. It is a very odd-looking space given the congestion of buildings in that area, so I'm sure Anti has just concealed it. We'll probably have a several minute run to get there, if these walkways I can see are anything to go by." She zoomed in, and her eyes widened as she kept reading. "Uh oh…"

Mark and Jack shared a look. "It's not going to be that easy, is it?" Jack asked sarcastically.

Alix bit her lip in thought. "If I'm reading this right, then a lot of the paths in that section of the city are actually missing. There isn't a walkway which seems to be connected to that building at all…"

"So, we're going to have to find another way there?"

"I don't know, this could just be Anti messing with us."

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

Their journey to the green monorail was relatively painless, only having to avoid one set of sentries en route. A quick dive into the shadows avoided the issue and they were soon speeding across the city, but they couldn't rest easy. They knew Anti could potentially mess with their train but Mark was now fairly convinced he wouldn't. It seemed like Anti was actually quite pre-occupied with keeping a handle on Matt and Damien's struggle, hence the little flashes they had seen since that first meeting. There was definitely something else at work, but Mark was at least reassured in that Matt seemed to have found a way to keep himself alive.

_Wait…how is Matt even able to keep Damien contained? We've seen what that bastard can do, he has powers way beyond anything we can fight. There were dozens of ways Damien could have lured us here, yet he chose to purposely expose himself by taking over Matt and chance Sean and I bringing them here. Why didn't he work with Anti on finishing this place rather than give themselves this ticking clock? There's something we are missing._

And then it clicked.  _Unless…Damien_ ** _couldn't_** _come back on his own. He_ ** _needed_** _us to bring him back. Does that mean he's weak? He's vulnerable?_

_Anti's helping Damien out because Matt can_ **_win._ ** _Something has happened to Damien and he doesn't have the same power anymore. If we can get Anti away from them for long enough, Matt might be able to seize back control._

Jack and Alix had been keeping a quiet conversation on the opposite side of the monorail when they saw Mark shoot upright from his seat, the sudden clarity in his eyes catching their attention. "Mark, what is it?" Jack asked while standing himself.

"I've got it, I think I know how we can help Matt," he explained animatedly. Alix too stood as Mark continued. "This might just be me going crazy, but I think Anti is actually getting involved in Matt and Damien's struggle because if he doesn't, Matt is going to overpower Damien. If we can distract Anti for long enough, it might buy Matt the time he needs."

The other two both shared a look of doubt and cynicism. "Mark…I hate to say it but, that sounds insane. We all know the power Damien has, and you guys have seen more evidence out in the real world," Alix reminded him. "How can Matt have the upper hand?"

"Okay, but that doesn't explain a couple of things. Do we think they are letting Matt keep Damien inside a reboot loop? That wouldn't make any sense whatsoever; and why is Anti getting involved when all of us are out here, escaping? He'd be nuts to pass up half the opportunities he's had! And why didn't Damien just jump out of Matt's body when Mesmeria was ready and wait for us all to come back? We know he can leave his host, we saw him do it in the security tapes."

Jack's eyes widened in recognition. "Holy shit, you're right. I forgot completely about that. So, wait…Damien didn't  _want_ us to bring him here per se, but he  _needed_ it?"

"I dunno what's happened, but I think Damien is actually vulnerable right now. Maybe it's the power he's expended in keeping Matt under his control for so long, or maybe he's had a hand in making this place…I don't think we're ever going to know. The point is…I think we can help Matt by giving him the chance to fight for his own freedom. All we need to do is find him that time."

Alix looked at Mark solemnly. "Yeah, but Mark…how the hell do we do that? If you're right about Anti being so pivotal in that fight, then he's not going to give up easy."

When the Irishman sighed deeply, the other two turned toward him. The look of slightly wild fear and determination in Jack's eyes gave both of them chills. His words really didn't help matters any.

"Then we give him an opportunity he can't pass up."

* * *

Mark and Alix were both desperately unhappy with Jack's plan, but they couldn't disagree that it was probably going to be their only option in tearing Anti away. For the rest of the journey on the monorail they racked their brains for any other way, but none of them could think of any other choice.

Using Jack as bait made Mark feel physically sick, and he'd never forgive himself if things went wrong. In this world, they weren't going to get a second chance.

Some careful analysis of the map revealed the best place for the trio to disembark, and they turned their eyes to the surrounding walkways once they were clear. As they had come closer to the northern section of the city Mark's pull to Damien had slowly been growing stronger, as had the pit in his stomach. This was a bad idea – a very,  _very_ bad idea.

It absolutely had all the hallmarks of a trap, but they had no choice. Not a single thing in the world would make them leave Matt behind.

It turned out Alix's suspicion had been well founded: while many of the walkways toward their destination were not complete, some were at least partially constructed. A little bit of creative scouting from the trio gave them a high enough angle to find a way towards their destination, but it was not going to be easy. The whole of the last two bridges were only constructed in segments, and they were going to have to get creative to find a way across.

What made things worse were the sentries they could see patrolling close to their target. As if their task wasn't hard enough already. If they didn't time their moves right, they could be spotted and find themselves under a hail of laser fire. After their near miss not even two hours ago, none of them were keen to make a repeat.

Mark took the lead with the tracker in hand, Alix and Jack close behind. While the half-Korean made sure they didn't have any immediate company, Alix guided them with the map as Jack stayed ready with his rifle. Between Jack's eyes on their surroundings, Mark's tips from the tracker and Alix's navigating, they managed to get to the hardest part of their crossing. All their eyes widened as they saw scorch marks littering the area in front of the first damaged bridge, and they soon realised it was from a detonation.

That made their stomachs drop: they hadn't come across anything with this destructive firepower yet.

Pieces of the bridge were scattered everywhere, but the sparking electronics clicked something in Alix's mind. She turned her focus to the metal railings, pointing her companions in the same direction. "These bridges are kept steady during construction with electromagnets. If we can kickstart the power, we might be able to shove the pieces back into position," she explained.

With a nod of acknowledgement, the trio began looking. It didn't take Mark too long to find what they were looking for…but it wasn't good news. "Fuck," he swore bitterly, pointing to first undamaged section of bridge. They could all see the panel which the older man could interface with – only it was about twenty metres away from them.

"Shit, what do we do now then?" Jack hissed, shoving Mark and Alix down as he spied some sentries coming around the corner of their target building. While he was reasonably confident they were outside their visual range, he wasn't taking the chance. Mark kept a close eye on the tracker from their cover, nodding to the other two as they moved past. "How do we get across there?"

Mark stared at the railings along the side of the destroyed bridge. They had certainly seen better days… "We don't need to, but  _I_ do." He quickly handed off the tracker to Alix. "Keep an eye out and give me updates."

Alix barely understood what Mark was saying before he took off running. "Mark!" she shouted, Jack reaching to grab for the older man but Mark was too quick. He sped away, Alix and Jack's breath both catching in their chests as they saw him take a running leap off the broken edge of the bridge and grasp on to the broken railings a few feet away. He managed to land safely, his feet and hands both getting a firm grip. "Holy shit, I couldn't do that," Alix breathed out, stunned.

"Neither could I," agreed Jack, turning his attention back to the danger surrounding them. "Come on, we need to keep an eye out for him."

Mark took a second to examine the path ahead, stomach lodged firmly in his throat. He'd be the first to admit that he really hadn't thought this through all that much, and feeling the weakened metal underneath him was no reassurance; but they  _needed_ to get across, and he was the only one who could access the panel on the next section. He wasn't willing to risk either of his friends in this trek. A quick glance told him that this railing wasn't going to get him all the way across, he was going to have to find another path. He scanned the surrounding area, seeing that there was no way over to the other side of the bridge and he swore. His eyes fell downwards and widened when he saw the support beams underneath, but it was a good ten-foot drop, and he wasn't ever going to be directly over them. It was going to have to be a flying leap.

"Fucking hell…" Mark muttered, knowing he didn't have another choice. He shuffled along the railing, not daring to go too fast in case the metalwork gave out. All of their hearts jumped when it started groaning under the strain of Mark's added weight and the half-Korean sped up, not wanting to chance it breaking with him straight over a sheer drop.

" ** _Shit, Mark duck down!"_** Alix's voice echoed through his headset and Mark lowered his body as far as he could, heart thundering as he felt the metal twisting at the new angle. He was running out of time. Unable to stay still, he kept sliding along, willing himself not to look up and risk bringing attention to himself.  ** _"Mark, stop!"_**

He had to force himself to stay still, even as his body shook from the adrenaline and fear coursing through him.  _"Stay still, dude, they've noticed something's up."_ Jack's statement made Mark feel a hundred times worse, especially when the metal gave another, much louder, creak. He held his breath, but when Jack's panicked voice came through the headset he knew he was in serious trouble.  _"Mark,_ ** _move!_** _"_

Mark felt the impacts on the end of the railing and his eyes widened: they were shooting it down. "Sean, do not fire back! Stay in cover!" he shouted as he frantically shuffled along, feeling every shot which weakened his lifeline even more. The metal shuddered downwards, about to collapse, and Mark knew he didn't have another option. He threw himself from the railing towards one of the support beams below with a great shout, gasping for breath as he collided hard with the diagonal beam. His chest took most of the impact when his feet didn't get good purchase on the initial landing, but at least he was on something a lot more stable now.

" ** _Mark!_** _Mark, are you okay?!"_

"Yeah, I'm okay, Sean. I made it," he panted back. "Probably going to have a monster bruise on my chest though,  _fuck_." Mark cast his eyes upwards, seeing the way up via the network of supports. There was a gap near the bridge itself, but it was well past where he needed to be. Fortunately, it wasn't exposed to any scouring eyes. "Looks like I'm going to be coming up on the far side of the bridge, have the sentries moved yet?"

" ** _They've gone, Mark,"_** Alix said back to him **.** ** _"They left after the railing went down, they must think you fell with it."_**

"Not that bad an assumption, I nearly did." Mark pushed himself up, wincing as his right shoulder protested the movement. "Damn, looks like I've hurt my shoulder a bit, this isn't going to help any. Keep an eye out for me coming up, I'll let you know when I'm in position."

" ** _Be careful, Mark."_**

He sighed deeply before steadying himself on the slanted beam, planting his knee as an anchor as he hauled himself up. The beams were all about half a metre wide, giving Mark some space to work with as he climbed his way back up. It wasn't that far down, but the angles of the beams and where they connected were going to leave him some work. As it happened, Mark had to inch back down the one he landed on to find a route towards the gap he could see. Some careful manoeuvring and patient climbing saw him reach his goal, and he spoke into his headset again. "Okay, I'm ready. How far am I from the port?"

" ** _You're not too far, maybe six metres. Looks like you'll have a window of about a minute to get it back up and running,"_** Alix confirmed.

" _There are a few spots of cover on the opposite side, we'll give you the heads up if a patrol comes too near. I just hope they don't notice what we're up to,"_ Jack added.

"All right, just tell me when." Mark's heartbeat ricocheted trough his ears painfully, the stress of the situation finally taking a hold. He'd not really thought about what he'd been doing up until now, but he couldn't afford to freeze.  _Don't fucking panic now, you moron. You're just done the hard shit._

" ** _Mark, you're clear!"_**

Alix's signal was all he needed and Mark jumped, grabbing the edge of the hole and hauling himself through, hissing at the burn of pain from his right shoulder. As soon as he was back on his feet Mark ran for the panel, opening his kit to pull out a battery. Slotting the unit in was easy, and they soon heard a distinctive hum in the area. Mark stared closely at the gap in the bridge, sensing something was different. It was almost like a…heat haze over the drop. While Jack and Alix stayed in cover for a little longer he searched around for a segment of the bridge. He found a small piece and threw it into the gap, a smile growing on his face when he saw it become suspended in mid-air. It was caught in the electromagnetic field.

" ** _Take cover, Mark!"_**

The half-Korean dove behind a large piece of debris, lowering himself all the way to the ground as the sentries walked past. It was about ten seconds later that he saw Jack and Alix emerge, the two of them rushing to gather other pieces of the bridge after seeing Mark's initial effort. The trio worked together, throwing smaller and larger pieces into strategic positions to help Jack and Alix get across. It didn't take long for them to work out that there weren't enough of the fragments left to give them a complete bridge, but they could create a sort-of stepping stone effect.

It took another two cycles of placement and ducking back into cover before Jack and Alix were ready to make their dash across, but there was still one gap in the middle which none of them had been able to reach while throwing pieces. The other two stashed the rest of their gear the best they could while picking up a few more fragments as they waited for their next window. Just before they made the first step, Mark tentatively tried out resting his weight on a segment next to him. When he was satisfied that it could comfortably hold him, he nodded to the other two. It was some welcome reassurance.

Once the next set of sentries were past, Alix led the way. She leapt between the suspended platforms, Jack only a step behind her as they tried to speed their way across. A couple of times they wobbled and the other had to catch their companion, causing Mark's heart to leap into his throat. Standing there watching was an absolute  _killer_. When they reached the middle, Alix threw two segments of the bridge, as Jack threw another, closing most of the gap. He passed her the final piece and once it was in position, they all but sprinted across. They slid behind into cover next to Mark just as the next patrol came into view.

The three shared a broken laugh, looking at each other in disbelief for a few seconds before turning their attention to the next segment of the bridge. It was constructed of several panels, lit in a mixture of colours, and Alix grabbed both of them before they could make a move, her instinctive knowledge warning them what it is. "Shit, it's a puzzle."

Mark and Jack looked at her in disbelief. "Oh fan- _fucking-_ tastic," Jack sighed back. "Any idea on what it does?"

"Yeah…and neither of you are going to like it. It's a common game puzzle, but having the three of us tackling it at once is going to be a challenge. I'm pretty sure all the panels of the same colour are going to drop when we step on each one."

They winced as they turned their attention back to the gap. It was five metres across, and there were nine different coloured panels. That gave each of them three to use to make it over the gap, but they had to be careful. If they used them in the wrong order, they could be trapped on the opposite side. Or worse, in the middle. After sharing a nervous look, Jack volunteered himself to go first. The other two knew it was a good idea: it meant there would be less opportunity for him to look down, and he could effectively defend if the sentries suddenly caught sight of them.

Their combined brains allowed them to work out a route for all three of them: Jack would go first, Alix second and Mark third. With great trepidation Jack stepped out, breath catching when he saw the tiles of the same colour shudder as he stepped on the first one. It took a great deal of willpower to jump off on to another, and he forced himself not to look as the first colour dropped and the second started shaking. Drawing in a deep breath he made two quick jumps, not wanting to hang around any longer than he had to before ducking into cover. He nodded to the other two, watching from shelter as the sentries came past their position. Contrary to what they believed was going to happen, the last bridge had actually activated when Mark turned on the power on their current one. It was a small relief to know they were actually making progress.

Alix waited until the tracker showed they were clear and made her jumps across, her footing relatively assured as she leapt between the panels. Unlike Jack, she didn't pause in between and just wanted to get it out of the way. With no mistakes she made it across and slid in next to Jack, eyes widening when he pointed her to look at the final bridge. When her instincts confirmed it was safe, she nodded at him with a smile. Now happy that it wasn't a trap or trick, they turned their attention to Mark. After the next patrol moved out of the way, he leapt across, not looking down if he could avoid it. The last jump was a big one and he didn't make it cleanly, landing with a hard grunt on his stomach at the other side. A quick haul upwards from the other two saw him raised to safety.

They all watched the tracker intently, keeping as silent as they could. There was now only a few metres between them and the machines, and they didn't want to chance being overheard given their pinpoint accuracy in picking out Mark earlier. After a couple of minutes studying and scanning around with their own sight, they realised there was no effective way of hiding: they were just going to have to run across the final bridge.

Pausing to get their breath back and psyche themselves up, the trio eventually elected not to use their weapons and just make it a straight sprint. All of them were fast runners, and they were fairly sure they could make it to the building in time.

They just had to hope there weren't any security measures on the door.

Once the machines were past a fair distance, the three of them made a break for it. All of them ran as hard as they could, ignoring the noise they were making in favour of speed. When they made it to the door they were relieved to see it slide open, with all three of them rapidly drawing weapons. Mark and Alix both grabbed their pistols as Jack pulled out his rifle. They skidded inside, ready for a fight but were surprised to see the foyer empty, just like the security building. "This is weird," Jack commented. "That's twice now we've found the entryways empty. Am I the only one finding this creepy as shit?"

"My guess is there were meant to be NPC's here beside the machines," Mark suggested while holstering his pistol. "That's probably why this place feels so deserted."

"It's not a bad theory," Alix agreed while marching over to the front desk, analysing the computer in front of her. It only took a few seconds for her to get a schematic of the building. "Looks like this is the manufacturing hub for the machines," she discovered while wincing. "There's nothing standing out at the moment." Her eyes switched to Mark. "Any feelings on where he is, Mark?"

Mark scowled as he tried to focus on it. "He's definitely here, all I'm getting though is a sense of up.  _Way_ up. Anything on the upper floors, Alix?"

"Nothing that is catching my eye instantly." Just then, the monitor started blaring as Mark gasped from a burn in his chest. Alix's eyes went back to him as Jack came over and placed a concerned hand on his back. "Do you feel him?"

"Yeah, I think they're just starting another cycle. It's like someone has just placed a burning hand right inside my chest…"

"No way that's co-incidental timing. I've just got a warning of a power spike on the 86th floor. Looks like we've found them." Her gaze switched between both of them in worry. "Are we really doing this?" she asked in a small voice.

Mark hissed in pain as he turned to face Jack, the concern thick in his voice. "Sean, we can find another way. This stinks way too much of a trap, we shouldn't be offering you on a silver platter to him."

Jack shook his head. "We can't afford to waste time anymore, Mark. This place could give in at any moment, and we've had enough time to try and think of another idea. All I've got to do is keep him distracted long enough for Matt to get free." He gave a reassuring smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'll be careful, don't worry."

The half-Korean turned to look at Alix, hoping that she might have another idea, but she looked just as unsure. With a great sigh Mark nodded his head. "All right, but  _please_ look after yourself, Sean."

Jack just smiled again. "Do my best. Come on, let's get this over with." The trio headed to the elevator, the Irishman punching in their floor number as the glass doors closed. He chuckled as it started moving upwards. "Gotta say, Mark, that was pretty fucking badass. I couldn't have done that shit, and you didn't even think about it."

That earned a small laugh from Mark as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Honestly, I think if I  _had_ fucking thought about it, I wouldn't have done it. I got halfway and all but froze once my brain caught up with me." Alix and Jack both laughed. "We got lucky, honestly. I'm glad we managed to slip past them all, but there's only so often we can keep that shit up. We're playing with fire here."

Alix chuckled darkly as the scenery sped past them. "Then let's just make sure we don't get burned."


	10. ...You're Going To Get Burned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, this took ages to get up, and was a bit of a beast. Hope you all enjoy!

**Chapter 10: …You're Going To Get Burned**

Their journey upwards in the elevator sped past in no time at all, and when the trio emerged on the 86th floor, all of their stomachs leapt into their throats. There was a definite…energy to the area. An overwhelming sense of tension, though none of them knew how that was possible. They were in a world inhabited solely by machines, there wasn't anything remotely organic or living around them. So how could they be affected like that?

Mark knew the answer, and he was sure the other two had a pretty big suspicion. It just had to be Damien's power, there was no other explanation. Even in a world such as this, with no mechanics for magic or anything the like, he could still manipulate it.

His urge to turn and run grew infinitely stronger. _This is a fucking trap, and we're walking right into it._

Jack was the first of the trio to step forward, eyes taking in their scenery. This was an area of Mesmeria which obviously incomplete: blue grid lines over empty depths were scattered across the floor and walls. Even the areas of the building which were completely coded were evidently unstable, with broken panels and sparking wires poking out from every surface. "Jesus," Jack muttered, "this place is a wreck. You'd think there was a battle up here or something."

All three of them jumped when there was a large thump against the sealed door dead ahead. It didn't sound like a solid object, but it was certainly potent. "I've got a really bad feeling about this," Mark admitted as they all approached, looking for any clues. The door was badly dented, in multiple places, and there were evident scorch marks across the join, as well as around the power panelling. Mark and Alix worked together to peel it away, only to find the inside blackened and useless, the port for Mark to insert a battery destroyed. "Great, so how the hell do we get in now?"

Alix started staring at the door in more detail, or more specifically the frame. Her eyes landed on a small hole above the left-hand door, barely a centimetre across. "Mark, look," she directed with an outstretched hand, both Mark and Jack's eyes following her lead. "Is it me, or does that look a little out of place?"

Mark's mind began to tingle and he began digging around in his kit, retrieving the bent pieces of metal from within. He finally understood what these were meant for. "Hang on, I've got an idea," he said while standing right below it, analysing the metal in his hands in more detail. They were all different sizes and lengths, and he replaced all but the two which matched the size of the hole above. Jack and Alix watched curiously as he reached up with the longer of the two pieces and slid it inside the gap, feeling around inside the cavity. Mark's face was scrunched in concentration as he slid the metal upwards, looking for anything which would confirm his suspicions. The motion came to an abrupt stop as Mark made contact with a switch.

All of them heard a mechanical release as Mark shoved upwards and they saw the left door judder, opening a gap of about an inch. Jack and Alix watched in awe as Mark began looking on the other side of the opening, searching for the slot to disengage the second door. He found it along the bottom, swiftly using his tool to release the door. "So that's how the manual override works…" Alix said in fascination as Mark stood again, replacing everything.

"Yeah, although the slots are always going to be in random places, sadly," Mark sighed in irritation. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as this place is essentially a giant puzzle. Come on, let's get this door open." Mark and Alix pulled apart a side each, slowly, giving time for Jack to scout the room beyond. He peered through the gap and couldn't see anything, nodding his head to indicate they were clear. Thanks to Mark's fiddling with the door controls, the sides now slid away easily, and they could advance unhindered.

Their breath caught when they saw a window at the end of their next corridor, and their eyes widened as they stared at what lay beyond. "Fucking hell…" Jack whispered, a sentiment the other two agreed with.

It was an assembly line for the machines, though it was currently shut down. Half-assembled constructions in various states of completion could be seen on conveyor belts throughout the room. Torsos hung from hooks along the top of the vast hall, while appendages and heads were suspended by mechanical arms at multiple locations. They could now get a close-up of the machines' inner workings, and they shared a look. Learning where their vulnerabilities lay could end up being pivotal.

With great trepidation they entered the room through a door further down to their left, each ready with their weapon of choice. Mark and Alix both clutched tightly to their pistols while Jack kept a firm grip on his rifle. It was like something out of a nightmare, seeing so many death machines in varying states of construction in the towering space. Jack momentarily froze as his eyes clocked on to the sentries which were standing inert in docking stations along the far wall. He fought to get his thundering heartbeat back under control, realising they weren't a threat.

For now.

Alix climbed up on to one of the last sections of the assembly line, seemingly unbothered at being in such close proximity to the machines. The other two wondered just how much of it was due to her technician nature, or whether it was due to fact she was a programmer at heart. Machines were probably the thing she understood the most. She studied it at length for a minute, before a pained gasp from Mark all but brought him to his knees. "Mark!" Jack exclaimed as he reached out to steady his friend.

"They're starting a new cycle," Mark hissed through gritted teeth. They were now _very_ close, he could feel it. Damien's presence was like a red-hot poker, searing through his stomach and leaving a horrific phantom burn inside. The echoes were causing him to go nauseous, and it took a great effort to refocus as it lessened. Following the feeling, his eyes drifted up to the top left of the assembly room, and he spied dull flashes coming from the window of the room. "Up there," he directed the other two.

Alix and Jack both followed his outstretched hand and saw what had caught his attention. "Probably a control room of some sort…" Alix theorized before turned her attention back to the machine in front of her. Without its armoured plating she could see a great deal of the inner construction; and she'd soon found a weak point. "I've got something," she said while pointing to a point just around the human stomach. "This is where their power source is kept. A well-aimed strike here would at the very least stun one of these things, if not disable it. If we ever end up in close combat, go for this." Following a hunch, she pulled out her knife and plunged it into the core, watching the weapon slid inside effortlessly. With a satisfied nod she the knife back. "Pretty vulnerable to any attack it seems. Let's keep that in mind if we can."

Mark nodded at her. "Anything else of note?"

"Not really, it is a machine after all. Enough damage will cause it to go into shutdown, but that'll take some doing. You'd have to hit some pretty vital systems. I'd recommend just going for the head and power source."

With that, the trio turned their gazes back towards their path. All of them were nervous, and Mark couldn't help but switch his stare to Jack. The Irishman was focusing hard, and Mark could see the tension throughout his body. "Sean?" The soft calling of his name caught Jack's attention, and he turned to look at Mark steadily. The older man drew in a deep breath. "We can find another way, I'm sure of it. We don't have to do this."

Jack shook his head minutely before looking away again. He was ready for this – or at least as ready as he thought he could be. "Let's get this over with," he answered emotionlessly, marching on ahead. Mark turned to stare at Alix helplessly and could see she was just as worried.

Something was going to go wrong, they could just feel it.

They climbed a set of stairs at the far end of the room, reaching the control room quickly. All three of them had their guns raised as they burst inside, not willing to take any chances at this stage. It was Mark who finally spied what they were looking for, and his breath caught. "Oh my god…" the other two caught his soft exclamation and turned to follow his gaze, their own breath stopping at what lay within.

The room behind the control room was what appeared to be a testing chamber, but due to the incomplete nature of the building, only half of it was fully generated. The whole of the back wall was open to the elements, a wind rushing through the area and chilling them to the bone, while showing them just how _high_ they were. On the central pad stood Matt – or at least, it was partially Matt. The body was restrained by mechanical holdings at the wrists and thighs, while a large metal binding held the chest. What caused all of them to freeze was how the body was glitching in and out of existence: for a second it would be Matt, then the next it would appear to be Damien, while sometimes it was a horrific mix of the two. Two minds, wrestling for control of the same body, and the struggle was evident in the fact that the Dreamscape couldn't even decide which appearance to give them.

They all choked back screams as they saw the body vanish abruptly, and Mark then felt the sharp burn race through his core before they reappeared in the same place, stuck in the endless loop. Mark could _feel_ the strain within his own body, he could tell just how draining it was. He had been right – Damien was badly weakened, and in this limbo state, Matt had the advantage. Damien had established the connection with him in sheer desperation for another way out.

Now they just had to free Matt.

Knowing that time was of the essence, the trio raced into the room, Mark and Jack running towards Matt as Alix sprinted to the computer console at the right-hand side of the room. The two YouTubers stared in shock at seeing the almost collision of two minds play out before them, unsure of how to proceed. "Alix, any ideas?" Jack shouted over to her.

The programmer had quickly started analysing the data in front of her, watching the streams of numbers play out in detail. On another screen she hacked into the game codes and brought up the player statuses again, seeing for anything that might give them an idea of how to proceed. It didn't take long for her to spy a major anomaly in the streams being generated from being in the centre of the room and her eyes widened. "I've got one, but I'm not sure how effective it is going to be," she yelled back.

"Anything is a start!"

"There is one point where there is a massive spike in the power output, as if the Dreamscape is finally deciding which body to generate, but that's when Anti is stepping in and messing things up again. He's momentarily distracting Matt and allowing Damien to seize a firmer hold, which is when Matt is triggering the reboot. It's kicking Anti out and restarting the whole process."

"So how does that help us?"

She turned to stare at them harshly. "It means I know when you can get his attention, Jack," she answered solemnly. "When the reboot cycle starts, Anti isn't actively involved. If you can distract him for long enough to allow Matt and Damien back to that point where the body is generated, it will hopefully be them separated. We'll just have to wait for the next cycle to start."

Jack sighed resignedly. "How long?"

"About forty seconds, I think."

The Irishman nodded slowly. "Right…guess I better go make some noise then."

Just as he was about to race away, Mark clamped firmly on to his left forearm, drawing Jack's attention to him. Mark held his gaze steadily as he spoke. "Be careful, Sean," he urged.

Jack gave him a small smile and nod in return. "You too." He then turned to give Alix a warm smile at her obvious concern. "See you both soon," he reassured before running back through to the assembly room.

Alix watched him go in distress. "Mark, are we really doing this?" she asked desperately, not hiding the tremor in her voice.

He didn't answer, instead turning his focus back to the shimmering form in the room with them. The pit in his stomach grew as he stared as the fragments of Damien and Matt's faces meshed together, wishing they could say with any certainty how things were going to go.

_Fuck, I really hope this works._

* * *

Jack sprinted back through to the assembly room, rifle primed as he looked around for anything which would catch Anti's attention. Well, anything _else_ apart from the obvious. He flicked a switch on his headset, opening the channel which both Mark and Alix were on. "How we looking?" he asked while jumping on to one of the conveyor belts, pushing over all the machinery partially constructed lying on it. He needed a good hiding spot.

" _ **Around ten seconds before they finish this cycle, Jack,"**_ Alix answered back.

He sighed as he found a point where three conveyor belts crossed, making it difficult for him to be easily spied from the floor. It was going to have to do. With shaking hands he checked over the rifle, standing as open as he dared. This was a _stupid_ idea, but they didn't have much other choice.

_Fuck it, it's time to take the fight back to this asshole._

He spoke back into his headset, steadying his voice as best he could. "Guys, this is going to get pretty fucking loud, okay? Just…be careful."

" _Sean, what are you planning?"_ Mark asked in trepidation.

Jack didn't answer him, waiting for a signal as to the start of the next loop. He closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath.

" _ **Jack, it's happening!"**_

With determination in his eyes and posture, Jack shouted around the room at the top of his voice. " _Anti!_ " he bellowed, hoping this would be enough to catch the glitch's attention. "Come on you piece of shit, come and get me!"

Nothing. "I know you're watching, you fucktard," he spat venomously. "You wanted a chance to take a shot at me, well here it is! You gonna let me go when you've got ten sentries down below who can shoot me? Come on, stop messing around and face me, or are you going to hide in the shadows where you belong?!"

That did the trick. Jack barely dodged as three machines emerged from the docking stations and fired at him, the Irishman ducking down as he shot back. It wouldn't be long before they climbed to a position which would leave him vulnerable, and he needed to stay at least one step ahead. If they caught him, he was finished.

In the lab, Mark and Alix's eyes widened as they heard Jack's taunts, not realising before then that Jack was _intentionally_ leaving himself vulnerable to the machines in the assembly room. "Fuck!" Mark swore, right before they heard the first shots. The sounds echoed through to their room and their chests constricted at hearing the steady stream, both fighting the instinct to go and help Jack. Except they knew it would blow their whole plan – Anti _needed_ to feel like he had the upper hand, that Jack was vulnerable. If either of them ran through and joined, then the glitch would possibly abandon the attempt: and with it, they wouldn't have the first clue on how to save Matt.

No, they were just going to have to trust in Jack to keep himself safe.

Both Mark and Alix turned their attention back to their own situation, eyes widening when the screens started to change. The lines of code started flashing past at a higher speed and Alix's eyes went frantic as she realised what was happening. "Shit, no!" she screamed, starting to frenziedly type at the screen before her.

Mark watched in horror as the amalgamation of Matt and Damien began flickering violently, his attention switching at Alix's cry. "Alix, what's happening?"

"The reboot cycle is changing! It's being triggered every few seconds now, I've got to disable it if we're going to have any chance of getting Matt out!" she shouted back in a panic.

The half-Korean's breath caught painfully as he realised what was going on. Damien knew Anti wasn't there anymore, this was his final play to not lose control. "How can I help?" Mark asked desperately.

"Keep an eye on them, tell me if either one of them become more obvious than the other! I'll need some time to block the command sequence."

He did so, but the combination was so unstable and warping in such a way that Mark really couldn't tell anything anymore. The flashes of each of them were so brief that by the time Mark really could tell either way, it had already vanished into the corrupted mixture again.

Shouts from the assembly room snatched their attention and Mark spun back to stare at in fear. The shots were increasing in frequency and he knew Jack couldn't hold out forever. He heard another scream, of pain this time, through their headsets, but then Jack was yelling again in defiance. Whatever was happening, he was still in the fight. "Hurry, Alix," he urged.

In the assembly room, Jack was kneeling on the belt as he shot back at the sentries, his abilities as a marksman helping in keeping the machines back. He quickly glanced down at his weapon and his stomach dropped: along the top was a gauge showing the remaining power, and it was barely visible anymore. He maybe had a handful of shots before it was useless. "Fuck!"

Knowing he needed to find another weapon, he stopped his barrage, waiting until the sentries which were chasing him advanced more. He could now see that eight of the ten machines were active in the room, six of them were advancing up towards his position while the other two were looking for clear shots below. He dove to the edge of the conveyor as one of the two on the floor finally found an advantageous angle and Jack had to swallow hard as he came face-to-face with the six-foot drop to the next belt. It was nothing compared to the five metres he was above ground, but it still made his stomach churn. "Oh, I'm a fucking _idiot!_ " he shouted as he rolled off the belt, dropping to the one below in a painful crunch. His breath caught but he didn't have time to pause before pulling his pistol and shooting at the sentry on his new level, the laser landing straight in the power core. That was one less to worry about.

Unfortunately, it fell in way too open a position for Jack to even _think_ about running for its weapons. He instead jumped down to another line below him, leaving the five sentries which were still above him with awkward angles as Jack ran down the slope towards the floor. He retrieved his rifle and unloaded its final four shots in the machine at the corner of the room, bringing it down. This one was still relatively sheltered, and Jack quickly exchanged both his guns before sprinting away into more cover.

He saw that four of the machines above were now situated on the belt which he had originally taken shelter upon. A screech of pain tore from his throat as a laser skimmed across the length of his upper back, badly singing his skin. His attention snapped to one of the final two sentries which had activated, not realising it had reached a position where it could strike at him. Firing purely on instinct as he crumbled, Jack managed to hit it in the head and disable it. "Fuck you, you asshole!" he roared back before ducking away behind some of the bodies he had disposed of earlier.

A flash of green within the mask of the sentry which had caught him out caused Jack's chest to freeze in fear, but also thunder in triumph. Anti had taken the bait, he was in the room. He just hoped it was enough for the other two to get Matt free.

* * *

Up above, in the lab, Alix stopped typing as they heard a tremendous crash from the opposite room. Jack's triumphant scream echoed through the room and their headsets, reassuring them that he was indeed keeping ahead of Anti. With that confirmation Alix spun back, finishing her typing. Mark felt like an age had passed as he saw the image continuing to flicker and begin to phase out – he didn't dare think what that meant for Matt. "Alix, something's happening!"

She swore under her breath as she made a few mistakes and had to correct errors from the speed at which she was inputting commands while in a mild state of panic. Finally, though, she stepped back with a determined final click. "Done!" she declared. "Worm your way out of that one you bastard!"

The pair watched as the image began to steady, their attention drifting back to the game codes as they waited to see another reboot sequence start. It didn't. Jack started shouting down their headsets in anger, but neither of them heard it clearly as they froze at seeing the text which had appeared on the screen.

_**WARNING** _

_**Command sequences disabled, reboot course refused. Data corruption imminent.** _

They both stared in terror, suddenly hoping they hadn't made a fatal mistake when everything changed.

A soul-wrenching shriek tore through both their headsets, turning both their stomachs to lead. It was sustained and agonised, and oh so terrifyingly familiar. They'd heard it once before in Glaysha, and it was even more horrifying this time.

Without another thought Alix grabbed her pistol from next to the console and sprinted through to the other room. Mark was about to shout after her when his voice suddenly died in his throat, the sound choked out by the hand which had locked around his neck and was compressing his airway. His eyes met with the screen before he turned back and the dread which had settled in his heart grew tenfold.

_**RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN** _

The words repeatedly endlessly, and Mark suddenly realised they had got everything wrong. _So wrong._ His gaze drifted to meet the body attached to the outstretched hand and he wanted to spit straight at the red eyes which locked with his own, and the sickening smirk which met Mark's furious gaze.

"Pathetic, Mark," Damien remarked, now free of the restraints and standing there in his own body. "I thought you would have at least _acknowledged_ the possibility of a trap," he sneered victoriously. "This is all too easy." Mark stretched down for the knife attached to his thigh and swung desperately, but Damien knocked it away with his other hand, the weapon landing far behind him, before pushing Mark back and hurling him into the wall behind. Mark screeched as he landed on a piece of broken metal, the shard impaling his left hip and the sudden pain stole away what little breath remained in his lungs. He reached for his other thigh and froze when he realised the gun which had been holstered there was now held in Damien's hands, and pointed straight at him. He couldn't reach for the rifle attached to his back, he'd be shot far too quickly.

The shadow smiled sinisterly, striding toward Mark slowly. Red eyes locked on to Mark's injured form and Damien's smile grew. "It is all too easy to play you, Mark," he commented idly. "First you bring Matt's body back so that we can seamlessly trap you all here, and now you even present yourselves on silver platters for Anti and I. This really is _far_ too easy." His expression changed to downright cruel as his eyes flickered black briefly. "Killing you is not all I am after, however. Let's see how quickly you destroy yourself in guilt and grief when we make you watch Anti torture and kill the remnant from with Jack's body. I'm sure that will break both of you in the most _delightful_ way possible."

Mark's heart thundered in defiance. "Fuck you," he spat darkly. Knowing he had nothing to lose, and possibly giving himself a much less painful death in the process, Mark reached back and screeched as he gained a grip of his rifle.

Before he could even shoot, however, his attention fell to the flash of silver which emerged from Damien's chest, right where his heart would have been. The shadow looked down in shock at the weapon sticking through his chest and both Damien and Mark heard the venomous snarl from the holder of the knife.

" _That's for what you did to our families."_

With an enraged shout from the other figure, Mark watched in shock as Damien was hurled toward the deconstructed wall and tumbled out through the opening. Just like Anti, he had none of the power he had in Glaysha. Without that power, he could do nothing to stop his tumble into the abyss below, vanishing into the empty and unprogrammed space of Mesmeria.

Damien was gone.

Mark's eyes fell to the panting and shaking form which had watched Damien's demise, shoulders slumping in relief as he turned around and made eye contact. A familiar blue reflected back at him and the tension in Mark's body melted away. "Matt…"

The older man didn't pause and ran over to him, seeing where Mark was impaled. He could hear gunshots from the other room, but he was sure Mark was too injured at this stage to realise fully what was going on. Matt knew all too well, had been forced to watch as Anti and Damien played the group right into the trap as soon as they had spoken aloud their plan to use Jack as bait. He'd been an unwilling spectator for far too long.

Not anymore. His time spent trapped in the data of Mesmeria with Damien had given him enough knowledge to give their group the only fighting chance they had.

Matt sprinted over to the console at the end of the room and quickly typed into the screens, bringing up the main power output of the building. He turned to the pouch on his hip, similar to Mark's, and pulled out what looked like a futuristic version of a flash drive. He slammed it into a slot on the wall and watched with a dark joy as he saw the screens all flicker as red code invaded.

_N̼̱͔͖͔͈̦͙͑̇ͣ̂$̰̪̱͕̊̀̎͐ͯͦ͗̿O͕̪͈̝̰͌̌̓̑͂̊ͅ!̤̤̬̠͙̫̐̔ͬ̓̆̓́̉̚ ̘͕̖̱̙̮̘̒ͪͨ͒̂̇ͩͨN͈̱͌̔͑o͚̜̱̠͓̪̦̘͔ͥ,̫̮ͦ̓̔͋̉͋͐ ̦̦̠̐̀͐ͬ^͖̰̪̺̲̹̱ͤ̓ͅͅ%̥̟̠͖͕͈̦ͣ̌ͯ͐̔ͦ̄̽y̙̺̖͍̱̞̏ͪ͌o̜͈̎ͭ̀̑̚*̩̝͍̰̳͂̿̌ͭ͊̆͋ū̼͖͎̦̋̎ͨ̓ͭ͂ ̠̣̣͕̖̲͑̒͛ͨ͂ͣ̈ͅf̤̠͍̯̤̩̓̆ͣ̉̎ͥ̆́ů̼̼̹̞͕͙̮̰̱̲͕͈̘ͧ̃̎͌̚!̠̼͎̫̦ͣ̐c̺̱̤͖ͪͩ͐ͩk̞͎͕̉̃i͚̫͚̯̫̪͈ͤͦ̍̅ͩ͋̇$̟̖͈̺̪̘͌ͯ͐ͫ̀̆̎ͧ̋ì͙͎͕̦͖̼ͣn͓̤̽ͮg͇ͪ̍̃͆̿̐̀ ͙ͮ̀ͥ́ͪͤͪ̓?͈̦͓̬̯͔̱̭͉ͯ͒͂ͣ̌ͬͨ̚!̟̫ͨ̋̒ͫ̄?͇̯̜̂͋̆ͣ̌ͬ̋̀ ̻̉̋̈́ͨ̄̎ͧb͓͇̫̳̭̻ͥ͛̚ä̱̜̱͖̝͍̣̬́̀͊s̫̜̊ͧ̎̐̐ ͇̫̙̲̠͖͈͈ͨ̓̚t̩̪̻̮͙͕ͪ̅̂ͫ͐̀̃a̘̯ͤ̽ͫ̿́̅*̺̱̤̆ͫ͊̑ͤ̓̓;̭̪̞̹͊ͭr̩̠͉̔̓̉͑'̩̗͕̥̥͈̘ͬ̉̍ď͕̦̘̣!͍̊̏ ̖̐̄̉ͯͪ̒̓͛H̘͇̱̘̻͖̜͕̭ͬ̿̈͊͑̆o̫̗͓̮͔ͤ̂̈̔)̳͚͈̥̜̌̐̐̏̀́̍)̜̤̥̩̼ͭ̽̽́̓ͨ̔ͮw̺̺̦͚͙͇ͤ̌ ̘̝͙̙̗̔̔ͮ́̊̓ͨḓ̗̜̺͚̻̙̓̉ͬi̖̤͎̦̻̫̓̄͒̎̇ͧ/̙̦̻͑ͅḓ̭͇͇̊̿ ͙͔̟̲͚̙͌̆̄͋ͯ͂̆ͩ̇y͎̘̻͇͈̥͊͐̊̿ͤ̅̎ͣͅo̗̺͈̣̬̭ͪͨͤͧ̽͆͗̚^̙̜̝̟͇̦̓̉̏̊ͣ̽́̓ȕ͓̰̳̣̤̖̹ ̙̲̘̤̈́̽̾̚g̦̭̞̝̒͐̎̂̒̇e̹̣͉̼̎ͨͫ̏̊̽!̦͓͚̱͖̀͗ͅt̪̭̭̞̞̖̥̩̟ͮ ̞̬̟͈͇̑̓f͖̜̹̈͌͌r̠̞̳̥̹̦̔̈́?̫͓̀ͥ̚?̜̝̮͈̦ͬͣͩ̆ͫ̈́e̬̭͕̙̺̼̲͆́͛ͭ̇̿̀ͫe͙̪̝̺̘̫̳̜̽̊̓͑̊?̖̩͒ͯ̊̂͑ͣͤ!͈̬̪̥͕̲̰͂̇̅͂͐̍̇͌_

The green text caused his smirk to grow as he hit two more keys, at which the screens all locked out with red lines of commands and Anti's screech of fury echoed through the area. "Burn in hell, Anti," Matt snarled angrily before turning and running back towards Mark. The half-Korean was staring at him in shock, but Matt gave him a friendly smile. "I'll explain everything as soon as we are out of here, Mark. We need to move."

* * *

In the assembly room, Jack's eyes had met with the connectors keeping the conveyor belt aloft, and he suddenly realised how he could turn the situation back to his favour. He fired frantically at the metalwork, hoping that the lasers were going to be powerful enough to destroy the joints holding everything together. He smiled at he saw the metal cave under the assault and all four machines tumbled to the ground, crushed under the debris. "Take that you sons of bitches!" he crowed gleefully. That only left two more, and the one other inactive machine.

Following a surge of confidence, Jack charged out and raced towards one which had gotten itself into cover, seeing the green flash within its mask. Rage coursed through his veins and Jack soon slid into a position to fire straight into its power core, rendering it inert. He rolled into more cover as the last one began shooting at him and Jack's gaze dropped to his rifle. Once again, it was almost out of power. His eyes rolled in frustration and he tossed it away, knowing it maybe had two shots left. He was much better off with the fully powered pistol now in his possession.

Jack waited as he saw the machine advancing, ready to shoot; but it unexpected charged, keeping an arm over its face and another in front of its power core. He swore as it got too close and was forced to draw his knife to keep it back. "Fuck off, you piece of shit!" he snarled while kicking away a reaching arm, knocking away its rifle, as he rolled back to his feet, jumping back to keep it at a safe distance. He shot with his pistol again, but couldn't inflict enough damage. He was forced backwards in an effort to dodge continual swings for him. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder why it wasn't using its knife and pistol as he kept looking for an opening.

He didn't understand until it was too late.

A mechanical arm swung over Jack's head and constricted around his airway as his knees were kicked out from behind. He crumpled to his knees, unable to draw a breath as he saw the green flash in the machine in front of him jumped to the one behind. Terror coursed through his veins as he realised the last one had come active and trapped him.

" _That was fun, Jack-a-boy. You showed some real fight there."_ Jack tried to struggle against the grips holding him there, reaching up with his knife but it was quickly shot out of his hand. His hand ached from a small residual burn, the laser having hit the knife and not his hand luckily, but he was out of options as the machine holding him wrenched his pistol away.

He was unarmed and immobile. Anti had him cornered.

" _Now…let's try this again, shall we?"_ Anti's voice echoed through his ears in a sickening tone and Jack's arms raised to try and desperately break the grip holding his airway. It wasn't going to be long before he choked completely. _"Can you fight back when you can't breathe? Shame I can't kill you, or that would make my life_ _ **so**_ _much easier. Then again…"_ His tone changed to much more of a sing-song voice as he continued, _"breaking your mind has_ _ **always**_ _sounded fun."_

Jack barely had time to think on the implications of Anti's statement before the machine's other hand clamped painfully on the back of his head. He felt as four small spikes protruded out and embedded themselves just before the searing burn invaded.

He screamed inhumanly as he felt Anti tearing his way into his mind and body, refusing to give the glitch what he wanted.

The grip on Jack's airway increased and he fought with everything he had to stay awake – he dared not think what would happen if he passed out. Could he even still fight? The voice began to whisper in his mind and Jack could feel control being torn away. Anti was starting to break him down.

_So pathetic._

_**Stop!** _

_I'm going to enjoy the screams as you can only watch me destroy everything you love._

_**No!** _

_Will you feel the pain I inflict, or will you feel my glee?_

_**Get out of my mind, you sick fuck!** _

_What shall I do first with your body, I wonder? So much to choose from._

_**I'll never stop fighting you!** _

_Your despair is going to be a delight as I tear them apart._

_**I won't let you hurt them!** _

_Will I keep you alive once I have my freedom, I wonder? The idea of you watching the whole life you have built be burned by your own hands is…enthralling._

Jack's eyes flickered between his own electric blue and the fierce green of Anti as the two duelled for control. Desperation began to creep into Jack's mental voice, his determination crumbling at the terror of what Anti would do.

_**Stop this, Anti, stop! I'll kill us both if I have to!** _

_Oh Jack-a-boy, you say that as if you have any control. You're_ _**mine** _ _now._

The lack of oxygen became too much and Jack's arms fell limply to his side but the struggle continued, blue and green flickering in open eyes. As Jack's body became limp from the suffocation, the battle became more intense, Jack giving everything he had mentally to stop his worst nightmare becoming a reality.

He'd never stop fighting, never stop struggling. He meant what he'd said: he'd sooner die than let the glitch have control.

A gunshot echoed through the area as the machine standing guard was brought down by a precise shot to the head. It crumbled to the ground as Alix's whole froze body at seeing Jack. He was completely limp, eyes fixed open as the machine was clamped on to his head. Seeing red, she ran towards the machine and shot it at point-blank range execution style. It let go instantly and Alix shoved it away as Jack's form crumpled to the ground. She turned him over, breathing erratic, as she looked for any sign of life. His fixed eyes flickered briefly between green and blue again before finally settling back to Jack's own blue, Anti not yet having a strong enough hold to keep control without the physical interface.

As the glitch's presence faded away Jack's eyes slid shut in exhausted relief as he passed out having regained control, barely acknowledging the pain spearing through his oxygen-deprived body.

Alix shook him desperately, willing him to awake. "Jack! _Jack!"_ she shrieked, but it made no difference. Her fingers flew to his neck and she all but collapsed in relief as she felt a pulse. He was alive at least.

Time would only tell how much damage their gamble had wrought.

* * *

…..

_Well that didn't fucking work, did it?_

_**We both miscalculated, but it matters not.** _

_Ha! As fucking if! Matt has managed to change things, he's a Hacker. I can't fucking get near them now! And you're going to be as useful as a toothpick in a knife fight now that you've fallen into the abyss._

_**Indeed, I am out of play in Mesmeria, but I now have power again. I can change the Dreamscape from outside that world, as you well know, and we already have another plan in motion.** _

_Fan-fucking-tastic. What the fuck does that mean?_

_**I cannot affect them in Mesmeria, but we can still destroy them.** _

_..._

_Are you saying what I think you are, you mad fuck?_

_**You left that place unstable on purpose, now use that power.** _

_**Bring Mesmeria crashing down, Anti.** _

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zalgo translation:
> 
> No! No, you fucking bastard! How did you get free?!


	11. This Isn't Goodbye

Matt studied Mark for a few seconds before giving him an apologetic look. Just as Mark was about to ask what brought it about, he screeched in agony as Matt pulled him away from the wall sharply, breaking him free of the metal pinning him there. Breathless, Mark slumped to the ground, his head spinning from the onslaught of shock, pain and slight nausea. Matt gave him a few seconds before he hauled Mark up to his feet and swung the other man's left arm over his shoulders, giving him support on his injured hip as his right arm grabbed on to Mark's side. The half-Korean hissed at the pain and gasped as they stood again. Matt flashed him a sympathetic smile while leading the shaky man onwards. "How bad is the pain, Mark?" he asked gently.

Mark breathed heavily as Matt set him upright against a wall, taking a closer look at his wound. While the older man was checking him, Mark took the opportunity to examine Matt a lot closer – there was definitely something _different_ about him. He was outfitted similarly to Mark, except his leather jacket was a blue so deep it was almost black and the skinny jeans he wore vanished into combat boots, both a slate grey. His shirt beneath was a crimson red and his arms were covered by gauntlets of the same colour. What truly struck Mark however was the fine lines he could see stretched across Matt's face now that he was up close.

Black trails, almost like faint veins, wove their way outwards from his eyes, while a much more prominent one stood out from his neck. Two small groupings, almost like spider webs, fanned out across the top left of Matt's forehead and disappeared into his hair while another was slowly growing dimmer on his right cheek. Mark realised with a start they may was well have been scars: the physical reminders of Matt's struggle against Damien.

As his eyes continued to take in the horrific remnants, and they widened at seeing the cracks which were snaking up Matt's neck from beneath his shirt. They were…glowing, a pale purple in colour and stretched pretty much the whole breadth of his neck. This was _very_ wrong. "Holy shit, Matt…" Mark whispered in muted dread.

Matt smiled at him and chuckled as he looked at the incision, deeming it to be mostly tissue damage. Fortunately, it had missed any bones or major arteries, though it was still bleeding. Satisfied that Mark would be all right until they met up with their companions, he swung Mark's arm back across his shoulders. "Looks a hell of a lot worse than it is, Mark. Trust me, I'm feeling better now that I have in over a year," he reassured.

Desperate screams of Jack's name through the headset caused Mark's heart to freeze and Matt instantly felt the difference. "Fuck, Sean! Matt, we've got to get down to them!" With a confirming nod, Matt helped Mark stumble his way through to the control room, and the onward back into the assembly room. They both gasped at seeing the carnage left behind, culminating in Alix shaking Jack's immobile form on the floor. "Alix!" Mark screamed, catching her attention.

She spun, tears streaming down her face and went still at seeing Mark being held upright by Matt. Standing on unsteady legs, she sprinted over to them. Her eyes fell to the steady stream of blood flowing from Mark's hip and his trembling form before switching over to Matt. He smiled at her warmly, but even she could tell it was off. The expression was genuine, but his eyes were…guarded. It had been over a year since she had seen Matt though, so she couldn't help but wonder whether this had been a gradual change, or a result of Damien seizing control. "What happened?" she asked fearfully.

"Damien thought he had outwitted you all, but he didn't anticipate me being able to jump into Mesmeria right behind him," Matt explained. Alix and Mark both looked at him in confusion, but he shook his head. "I'll explain the rest later, we're nowhere near safe yet. What happened to Jack?"

Alix shuddered at remembering the sight of Jack's limp form being held up by the machine, eyes flashing between Jack's own blue and the sickening green of Anti. "Anti caught him and was trying to upload himself into Jack. I don't think it worked though, Jack seemed to pass out from exhaustion and… _relief._ I think I got to him just in time."Her gaze turned back to the unconscious man. "He's out cold, I don't know if we're going to be able to wake him any time soon."

Matt helped Mark to stumble across and lowered the half-Korean slowly, giving him time to adjust to the pain as he changed levels. Once that was done, the trio examined Jack in more detail. There was a faint burn on his hand from when the knife had been shot out from his hand, while his neck was already bruising a deep purple. With gentle hands they turned him over, gasping at the long burn across the entirety of his back. "Crap, that looks bad," Mark muttered. Alix rummaged around in their bag of supplies and retrieved some bandages, at which Matt knelt and helped her apply them.

The trio worked together to ease Jack out of his coat, taking their time to wrap the bandage around the entirety of upper torso as Matt held him upright. As much as they may have wanted to clean the wound, it was going to have to do in the short term. It was a small mercy that he was still out cold, or else the process would have been incredibly painful for him. Once they were satisfied that the wrappings would hold, they slipped his coat back on carefully, but didn't fasten it again. Alix then gently strapped the burn on his hand.

Mark couldn't help but wince at seeing the multitude of injuries across Jack's body: he'd definitely taken a much worse beating than the rest of them. From the multitude of laser burns on his arm, hand, back and face, to the dark bruise which had already appeared around his neck, Mark now couldn't help but wonder how Jack had survived. He'd dodged a fatal blow many times now, but his luck was going to run out some time. With Jack patched up as best they could, Alix switched her attention to Mark, wrapping his midriff tightly. He couldn't help but wince not only at the pain, but also at seeing the red of his own blood seep through the coverings. It did feel much better, however.

A static crackle through the area had Mark and Alix jumping, while Matt glared at an illuminate panel on the wall. He abruptly stood and stormed over to it, eyes turning icy at the text which appeared there.

Y̥͖̏o̥̠̬̻̖̻ͨu̪̪̾̉̓ ̝̝̟̥ͬ̓̾̄̐̾̐̚c̘͔̮̅ͦȧ̟̮̠̳̺͓̫̰̫ͣn͖̣̭̿̃ͮ'͉ͭ̾ẗ̟̹̀̃͐ͮ̍ ̹̮̠̌̏̑͑̉ͤk̘͍̬͌͒̀̃e͙͉ͥ͌͒͊ͯ̊͐ͫe͚͚̫̙̺ͧ͒ͮ̿̑̓p͙̣̫̖͍̦̌̂̄͆ ͙̳̘͈ͣm̜̤̒̆͌ͧ͒̚e̘͓̞͎̰͉͈̬̪ͣ̉̓͌̆̃ ͎͓̖̱̰͚͙͓͒̆ͫͮô͉͕̭͖̞̬̜͓͒ͮͣͭ̽̀̿u̮͉̬̹̯̬ͣ͆ͯ̄̅̔ͯͥ͊t̥͉̦̻̙͈̰͂ͪͬ̓͒̀ͭ̑̔ͅ ̳͔̯͚̭̌̉̋̀̓̎̓̓̐ͅf͕̺̠̤̥̈́ͤo͕̠̯͚͔̗̯͍̾ͤ̽r̺̣̬̳͌ͮ̄̽ě̗̮͇͈̗̪̼̤̫̐̋͆v̘̲͍̜̦̩͙̓̋ͬ̈͗̒e̘̥͎̍̍ͥ̊̑͑̓̉r̖̗̾̈́ͨ͐ͥ̄ͪͨ,̟̞̼͕͍͋ͨ͋ͧ̿̚ ̫͖͔͚̟̭͓̦̾̿̅ͭ̽͑̎M͈̰͎̥̐ͮͬ̃̏͗ͅḁ̻͕ͥ̏̓ͦt̘͎͓̜̞͇͑͋̎ͤͮ̌̐̑ẗ͖͈͙̂̑͛͋͂̊.̭̬͈͙̬̙̠̖͇̓ͩ̐̎ͯ̑̿̊̓ ̘̪̾  
͇̻͉̤̓͗ͫ͗̚  
̭͍̹͓͂ͅỶ͕͙̲̳̯͉̰͓͛ͮ̇̅̑ͣ̐o̞͖͓̰͇̻̘ͯ̓́ͥ̽ͅṷ̲̼͍̤̻͓̊͌͗ͮ͒ȑ̭̗̻̭̤̤̟͗͆̀ͅ ̮͎̪͔͉̒̍́ḻ̖̫̹̲̱̘͊̎̈͑ͬ͂ͨͅǐ̼̜̩̲̳͔̖̖͉ṯ̬͕̘̏̔͌͗̿͋ͮt̖͖̘̝̦̫͇̺͛͒͆̄l̟̯̱̯̯̝͗ͅḙ̗̹̃̏ ͇̪̻͔̺̋̽ͧ̀h̫̝̗̿̑a̜̥͉̔̈́̈̑c̤̮͓͍͎̰̅̓̋k̩̩̘͎͚͙̳̈̿ ͖̯̘̩̖̹͛̅ͯw̰͎ͪ̅̒͒i̮̠͇͈͇͇͚͐͒ͫ̀̋l̟͖̣͔̓ͯ̽l͔̜͖̭̺͛̋͒ ͎̮ͩ́̋ͥ̃ͪͦ̇ö̤͍̠̻̙̯ͨn͓͖̂̍ͧ̉͂̎̓l̠̪̳̃ͭͤ͋ͣy̳̭͕͈̗͕̱͖ͭ ̦̲̖̩̰͓̠̰̿͑̾̓k̟̘̣̟̩̋ͣ̈́̇̏͋e̗͚̱̫̗̭̟ͣͯ͛̾̂̓ͅé̻̺̪̼ͫ͆ͭ̿̉̿͋p̟̝̻͕̲͎̪ͭ ̘͖ͤm̞̒̿ͦ̍̌e͖̙̾͆͑ͥ ̠͎͍́̿ͮ̀ͤ̎ͅo̲̲̝̹̤͂ͦu͔̱̎̐ͭ͋͛̿t̰̆̂ͫͭ͋ ͙̖̔ͭͮ̋͒ͮ̈ș͈̬͖͇̭̂͑̒ő̜͓͉ͦ̀ ̘̠͔̣̩̞̪͈̲͂̈l̞̳͑̄̃͗̇ͫȯ̗̤̈̑̓̔̊n̲̬͇̳̬̼̣̂ͦ̉ͣͣ͗ͤ̿g̗̰̰̼̙̺̲̰̜̀̍̍ͦ,̤̦̰̓̒̆ ̦̻͚̖̼̪ͩ̓́̄̈́̅a͔͖ͯ͒ͤ̀̅̒̈ͯ̚n̹̰̠͙̮͒ḏ̬̱̪͇͈̩̽ͣ̊͛̐̈ͦ̃ ̟̠̮͇̰̩̀̅y̗̆ͤ̾̓ͪ̈́ͧͅo͐͌̿ͪͅû̗̙̹̯̻̠̤̳̬̉ͦ̏ͪ̓r̤̲̟̫͓̮͈̔̑̅͌ ̪̣̞̞̦̈́ͬ̆ͯ̓̍̐ͥt̯͕̭̜͍͊͑i͔̮̯̱͖͚ͥͅm̪̫̄̚e̳͇̼̲ͪͫͅ ̬̙̟̹̲͑͆̏ͮ̿̄i̫̻͓̤̦͈͈̹̊̉̆͆ͯ̏̆ś̱̻̹̫̪̀̋ͨ̉ ̯̯̞̀̀̒̎̾̎̊̚l̤̼̜̣̩̜̟̔̃ͯ͂̐͗̈ͮi̠̻̹̲͈̔ͫ̄ͪ̄͑̌m̱̹̲͕̯̯̆̾̓͒̄͛̀i͙̺͙͍̰̪ͤ̅ͣ̄̎ͣ̓t͍̰̭̻̺͐̔͊̉̅ͅe͚͓̭̝̟̺̍̂̏ͅd̟̹ͤͪ̋ͪ̎̏.̯̤̯̙̖͋ ͉͙̝̯̲͂̂ͧ̓̓ ̹̞̲͎͔͚̑́ͫ

Matt scoffed at the message, smirking at Anti's arrogance. "That's what you think, Anti. I've got another trick up my sleeve, yet."

Hearing Matt's snappy statement, Mark and Alix shared a look before approaching him. They watched as Matt tapped on the screen, dismissing the message while bringing up the game codes. Alix watched in amazement as he went into the subroutines for the class assignments, approaching areas of the code which she didn't _dare_ go near. As she hadn't been involved with constructing that area of the Dreamscape, she wouldn't risk destabilising it by messing around with the codes. "Matt, what are you doing?" she asked breathlessly.

He offered her a slight smile before turning his attention back to the mass of data ahead. "I didn't manage to keep Damien trapped in the metadata of the Dreamscape with no good reason," he answered idly, focusing on the streams on screen.

The pair behind him stared in shock. "Wait, _you_ were keeping _Damien_ trapped?" Mark said in shock. "We thought it was the other way around!"

Matt sighed briefly. "Anti wasn't lying to you. The Dreamscape couldn't separate Damien and I originally, but that bastard can move around inside the data of this place freely: we learned that after last time. Damien took his sweet time trying to overpower me but soon realised it would be futile as the Dreamscape couldn't tell our minds apart, seeing as we were uploaded from the same body. He realised his most effective course of action would be to cut himself free from my mind and enter separately.

"What he _didn't_ count on, was the fact that I was conscious and aware within the metadata, just as he was. I was drifting through that subspace alongside him, and I used the time to learn what they had been changing. It may have felt like only a few hours to you guys in here, but… It feels like _days_ have passed for me." Mark and Alix both watched him with sad eyes, hearing the strain in Matt's voice. They could instantly tell the mental damage which the situation had wrought on him. "I used to time to learn enough to write a new code, trapping Damien within the same uplink as me. He _couldn't_ get away.

"Anti soon realised what I had done, but if he tried to erase the code I just rewrote it. We were stuck in an endless loop. He instead overwrote the safety protocols of the Dreamscape and tried to force an upload to Mesmeria, but the software still couldn't tell us apart. Now that we were part of this world, however, it soon became obvious that we had a struggle on our hands. There was one body, and Damien and I were going to have to fight for it. Except, both us soon realised there was a way to make that fight unending. Whenever one of us was about to lose, we triggered the reboot."

Matt finally found the code he was looking for and began typing new commands at speed, Alix leaning around to try and work out what he was doing. "So…we just made things worse?" she wondered aloud.

He flashed them a grateful smile. "No, you _did_ save me. Damien managed to get a message out to Anti, somehow, and he began interfering. Don't ask me why, but Damien doesn't have anything like the power he did. I know that he expelled a huge amount of his energy on something, and it meant I actually had a chance. I got an inkling when I almost broke his control minutes before you guys uploaded us here: I was so goddamn close but I'd crippled myself too much. I passed out, and next thing I knew was Damien and I were floating through the subspace.

"If Anti hadn't stepped in, I would have managed to overpower Damien enough to upload myself here and leave him stranded, if I could do it quick enough to stop him initiating the reboot. As it was…when you guys spoke your plan aloud, Anti overheard it. When they saw you were ready, Anti unleashed a virus he had been keeping on standby to cripple me. If Damien got out, I knew what he'd do to you, and I didn't know if it would appear as him or me, so…"

Mark looked at him knowingly. " _You_ caused the reboot to go into a cycle, didn't you? Fuck, Matt, you were willing to trap yourself with him for god knows how long to protect us…"

Matt stopped typing and turned around to face the other two with a soft smile. "You and Jack were willing to risk your lives to come back here and save me, Mark. I was always going to do the same after all you did in helping my family. I saw you that night you arrived to check on them, I could only watch from behind any reflective surface." Mark regarded him solemnly, guilt creeping through his body. Matt should never have been dragged into this mess, and he'd been willing to- Mark shuddered at the thought of what could have been.

"When you disabled the reboot, I knew I couldn't stop Damien in my crippled state. He emerged first, but once he was out I managed to follow his uplink path and generate my own body. Unfortunately…" Matt gestured to his messed up form, pointing out the cracks around his neck specifically. It was only now that Mark realised they were spreading upwards towards his face. The same markings were appearing across his hands at a rate. "I'm not stable. My body is going to collapse shortly, the virus is still ravaging my data."

Mark and Alix shared a panicked look. "What can we do?!" Mark demanded, refusing to believe that Matt was going to vanish after all this.

His smile turned even gentler. "Nothing. This body can't be salvaged, it will disintegrate soon. I knew this was going to happen, but removing Damien from Mesmeria and disabling Anti long enough to give you guys a chance? No way was I _not_ going to jump in."

Tears welled in Mark's eyes. "Matt…"

Matt placed a cracked hand upon Mark's shoulder. "Don't worry, Mark. I'll be back soon, I've got a plan."

Alix spied the knowing glint in his eyes. "What are you going to do, Matt?"

He stepped away from Mark and placed a small disc in Alix's hand. She stared at in wonder. "Keep that safe, Alix. I can use that to find you guys again," Matt told her determinedly. He then turned back and typed a few more commands into the screen, waiting for one last line to appear.

_**Command Override Accepted** _

_**Class Override Accepted** _

_**Initiate Quarantine Protocol? Y/N_** _

Matt clicked _**Y**_ and spun back to them with a slightly sad smile. Mark and Alix's eyes both widened at seeing the cracks begin to spread across Matt's whole body at top speed, the purple glow growing brighter. "Matt, what's happening?" Mark asked, terrified.

"I can't help you until I erase this virus, guys," he answered, his voice beginning to crackle apart almost like static. He just managed a final smile. "Don't worry, I'll find you, just keep that disc safe. This isn't goodbye," he re-assured them as the glowing grew so bright that the other two had to shield their eyes. Alix turned away, but Mark squinted through his fingers to see what was happening: only to wish seconds later that he hadn't.

Matt's body literally shattered apart before Mark's eyes, the fragments dissipating into code only seconds later.

" _ **Matt!"**_ Mark screamed in denial, desperately stretching out to grasp at the pieces, only to take a hold of thin air. He stared in disbelief, his mind spinning with what he'd just seen.

_Did Matt just…?_

Alix took a hold of Mark's shoulder and gripped it tightly. He turned with shell-shocked eyes to face her, seeing that she looked just as lost as he did. Her eyes raised to the screen, seeing the commands inputted and her stomach dropped. "Matt just quarantined himself," she deduced. "He's trying to purge the virus Anti infected him with."

Mark gritted his teeth and trembled with repressed anger. "Where the hell did he go, then?"

"My best guess is that he's back in the subspace of the Dreamscape, Mark. I honestly don't know – this place doesn't exactly run by the strict rules of code anymore…" Mark nodded tightly, and Alix offered a small smile. "We have to trust that Matt knows what he's doing, Mark. He seems to know a lot more about what was going on around here than we do. Matt said he'd find us as long as we keep this disk safe, so let's trust in him."

Their discussion was interrupted by a deeply pained groan from behind them and they sprinted over to Jack's side as they saw he was awakening. As more awareness came back to him the Irishman hissed in pain, shielding his eyes from the lights of the room. " _Fuck…_ my head," he complained lowly.

"Jack?" Alix whispered, mindful of Jack's comments about his head.

He opened his eyes wider to see Mark and Alix hovering over him worriedly, but the pair breathed a deep sigh of relief when Jack's blue eyes appeared. It was definitely him. "Jesus, it feels like someone has been rattling around in my head with a jackhammer, fucking _hell..."_ With the help of the other two, he managed to slowly sit up, despite the rapid dizziness which invaded his mind. Mark kept a hand on his back when he wobbled, Jack clenching his temples. It took him a few more seconds to at least get some semblance of his bearings back, at which he looked back to his friends. "Shit! What happened?" he asked in a panic.

Mark placed his other hand over Jack's chest. "Easy, Sean, you've been out cold for a while now. Do you remember trying to distract Anti?"

Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah, I remember shooting up all the machines in here. Then I-" He blanched as he suddenly remembered in perfect clarity.

The pain, the struggle…the fear that Anti was going to snatch control of his body.

"I- God, I really thought I was a goner there…Anti had me in a vice, I couldn't break free. He tried to seize control of me; I could hear him taunting, breaking me down…Fuck. How am I still here?"

Alix smiled shyly. "I got here just in time, Jack. Anti was so focused on you that I managed to shoot the machines and break the connection. It seems that he needed that physical interface to keep up his attempt. A few seconds later your eyes cleared, and you passed out. We were scared of what state you would be in when you woke up."

Jack hesitated. "I…I think I'm okay, my body just hurts like hell. That really wasn't one of my smarter ideas, was it?" Mark and Alix chuckled, but then Jack looked around and his face fell. He noticed the absence of Matt. "It didn't even fucking work, did it?"

The other two shared a look, at which Mark explained. "It's…pretty complicated, Sean. It _did_ work, Matt is free, but…"

"But, what?" the Irishman asked, confused.

"There is a lot you missed out on," Alix continued. "I don't even know all of it, looks like I missed a few things based on what Matt said. We can maybe all get caught up as we head onwards?"

Mark nodded in agreement. They may be in the clear for the moment, but they still had a time limit. "Sure, what's our next destination?"

Alix pulled out the map from Mark's kit and zoomed into a building on the eastern side. "The power station: we'll need that to activate the exit portal. Hopefully we can sneak in there without another fire fight, I really don't want to push our luck any more than we have already. I'm hoping that Matt will be able to re-join us en route there, we could really use his support." Jack looked at them in confusion and Alix smiled at him. "We'll explain everything soon, Jack. I don't think we should hang around in this place any longer than we have to."

With their next action decided, Mark and Alix helped Jack to his feet and supported the Irishman as they walked back towards the elevator. His strength was still lacking, and his balance was completely unsteady, so they swung an arm over each of their shoulder and helped him.

As they strode onwards, Jack couldn't help but let his mind drift back to Anti's words. There was something that he had said which just didn't make sense in Jack's head…unless they had been making one huge mistake about Anti's motivation from the very start.

_**Shame I can't kill you, or that would make my life** _ _so_ _**much easier.** _

_What the hell does that mean? Is Anti_ _**not** _ _trying to kill me? Is he…fuck, could he just be trying to take me over? That doesn't make any sense!_

_We're missing something._

* * *

They made it back down to the bottom of the tower with no issues, but it took them some time to make their way back to the monorail. Fortunately, their previous puzzle path had reformed as a solid walkway, but they still had to retrace their steps across the magnetized fragments. Jack's condition made it harder, though he was improving rapidly. The headache helped to distract him from the height at least. They managed to sneak back towards the monorail and board it without any hassle.

After changing from the green monorail to the red one, the group updated each other on what had happened during the heated moments of the confrontation at the assembly plant. Alix and Jack were both astonished to hear that Matt had stabbed Damien and then _literally_ threw him out of the map. They hoped it was the end of the shadow, but Mark wasn't so sure. Despite Matt's assurance that Damien was weaker, _something_ had to have caused it.

The question was, what could that be?

Jack kept his quandary concerning Anti's statement to himself, not wanting to concern the other two until he had sorted through more of his thoughts. He did tell them about the fight itself and relayed his worry that Anti wouldn't be held back forever. They worked out that Alix's assumption was probably correct, and that Anti needed a physical interface in Mesmeria to seize control of Jack. So long as he wasn't grabbed by another one of the machines, he would probably be all right.

Probably.

They also discussed what Matt had told Mark and Alix, and the three struggled to wrap their minds around a lot of what he had said. Matt had been left with limited time to tell them any details, and it almost left them with more questions than they had started with. A lot of the situation made even less sense than it did before. They soon realised that until they were reunited with Matt, they were just going to have to accept being kept in the dark.

Mark was determined to trust what Matt said. It wasn't an if, it was when. Matt wouldn't lie about something like that.

_Would he…?_

Their final changeover saw them take to the white monorail, and as they were jumping platforms a violent earthquake seized the whole area. It was so strong that it caused all three of them to lose their footing, and they shared terrified glances. Once it was over and they made it on to the next train, Alix quickly brought up the game codes. What they found was most definitely _not_ good news.

_**WARNING** _

_**Mesmeria parameters unstable, simulation stability at 37%.** _

_**Evacuate simulation immediately.** _

None of them had to say much at seeing that message, their discomfort at the sudden drop in stability clear. All they could do now was hope that Mesmeria would last until it hit zero, rather than the collapse becoming all the more likely as the percentage dropped. They resolved to try and put it out of their minds, seeing as the decline was something outside of their control. All they could do was dedicate themselves to opening the exit portal and escaping.

As the monorail pulled up at their station, the three emerged armed and ready for a fight. Mark and Jack led with Alix covering the rear. They stuck with their established combination by this point: Jack using his rifle while Mark and Alix stood ready with their pistols, the half-Korean holding the tracker and the programmer navigating. Mark had confirmed there were many sentries stationed around the power station, and they were braced for a confrontation.

They examined their surroundings as they disembarked, seeing that the area was a maze of closely constructed buildings. There were a mixture of paths leading towards the power station, but they could already see a lot of company – however, there were also tight gaps between the buildings. Some alleys were blocked by security fences, others were just completely impassable due to debris. It was going to take some time to find a way through that labyrinth. Or they could take to the main pathways, but the sentries were patrolling in large groups.

It didn't take much thought before they started advancing through the backstreets.

Jack took aim around corners as Mark kept his eyes glued to the tracker, Alix right behind them. All their hearts were pounding at every little sound, and they made every effort not to disturb anything lying around. Large noises could draw attention to them, and they didn't want to be caught in a fight in such close quarters. The three of them would never be able to take cover together.

They began to grow more agitated as they bumped into more and more dead ends. While the security fences showed up on the map, the areas which were blocked by damage did not, and they knew they were wasting precious time.

As they advanced into the seconds half of the maze, however, both the map and the tracker started glitching out. The group shared a fearful gaze. "Crap, that's not good," Jack snapped, keeping an eye as they came to an intersection.

"Damn, this thing is completely useless now," Mark sighed. "Alix, what about you?"

She shook her head sadly. "The map's dead, but I suspect it is due to deliberate interference. Both of them going down at the same time? That's no coincidence."

"So, what? We have to advance blind?" Jack asked, exasperated. When Alix and Mark didn't answer, he sighed explosively. "Fuck, okay. Well, I've not seen any company in here so far, and you never found anything on the tracker, did you, Mark?" The half-Korean shook his head. "Okay, so we'll probably be okay. Do you guys see any landmarks we can use as a guide, so we make sure we don't get lost?"

Alix pointed out two large pylons to their right. "That's north-east, according to the map. We need to advance to the north-west from here. I think it's a safe bet those pylons are at the edge of the plant."

"All right, let's use them to help us keep track of our direction. Mark, you take the left of each opening and I'll clear the right. Alix, keep a watch of our tails."

With the plan fixed, the trio continued their advance. It was a long and fraught process with no firm idea of whether they were going the right way or not, but they knew they had to keep going. It was far too late to turn back now.

After another twenty minutes of stressful wandering, they spied an exit which led back to a main path: and the power station was dead ahead. They shared matching smiles and advanced through the last alley, focusing on their goal ahead. Jack and Mark each peered around the exit, making sure they were in the clear before venturing forth. As a patrol moved out of sight, Jack nodded that they were clear, and the pair emerged and took a deep sigh of relief. "Damn, I'm not one for getting claustrophobic but I'm glad to be clear of that," Mark sighed happily.

Jack chuckled in response, but soon noticed that they were one member of their team down. His eyes darted backwards, and his breathing became rapid when Alix was nowhere in sight. "Alix?!" he shouted, Mark soon following his lead. The pair looked around frantically, hoping she had just wandered off, when a shadowed figure emerged from the end of their alley.

They raised their guns as their hearts dropped. Alix's throat was being held in an arm lock by one of the sentries, and they noticed its other hand was behind her back. She was grasping at its arm in a mild panic, her gun missing and a gash across her forehead.

When a green flash appeared in the helmet, Jack's stomach clenched in fear. "Let her go, Anti!" he demanded.

They'd all hoped the glitch would be gone longer than this – and now he had Alix as a hostage.

Anti laughed, the sound coming out all mechanical, and both Mark and Jack glared at him hatefully. _"All of you were so eager to be free, you never checked inside any of the debris you passed, Jack-a-boy_ ," he chimed. " _Now I've got myself a plaything._ " Alix whimpered and the other two took aim at the sentry's head. " _Ah-ah, not so fast, princess."_

A screech of terror ripped from Alix's throat, which caused the pair to flinch involuntarily. Tears were streaming down her face as Anti forced her to turn slightly. Mark and Jack paled at seeing the knife which was being pointed firmly in her back. _"Remember, I'm in a machine, Jack. I can pierce her before your bullets even come close. Are you willing to risk her life so carelessly?"_ Alix sobbed as Anti forced it ever so slightly into her skin, just breaking it.

Jack's eyes were alight in fury and fear. "Don't hurt her, Anti," he begged. "She's not the one you want."

Anti sniggered. _"No, she's not. The question is, are you going to spill her blood for your own freedom, Jack? Whatever happens now is your choice. You can sacrifice her, or you can take her place. Don't hang around though, or I'll choose for you – you know I'm not patient."_

Alix swallowed on another cry and shouted towards them. "Don't do it, Jack, please! Don't let him win! Just shoot, he's bluffing!"

Both Jack and Mark hesitated. _"Don't think they're willing to take the chance, bitch,"_ Anti sneered.

Mark turned to look at Jack, seeing he was frozen. "Sean, you know what will happen if you give yourself to Anti."

Jack knew, but in his heart there was only one thing he could do. The other two didn't know that Anti wanted him alive: he just had to take the chance they could stop Anti, one way or another. "I can't let him hurt her, Mark," he answered helplessly, lowering his gun.

Alix shook her head frantically as Mark mirrored his action. "No, Jack, _don't!"_ she pleaded.

Anti laughed once more. _"Smart choice, Jack-a-boy. Now, bring your sorry ass here. We've got unfinished business."_

Jack stared at him coldly before turning towards the other man. Mark watched as Jack handed him the rifle from his hands and leant over, whispering his ear.

"Don't let him escape in my body, Mark. Even if you have to kill us both."

Mark pulled back in shocked horror, but could see the conviction in Jack's eyes. "Sean, no…" he whispered, unable to even _think_ about that horrific possibility. Jack soon turned away and began striding towards Anti and Alix. "Sean, don't!"

He was about halfway there when things flipped completely.

Anti screeched mechanically, electricity suddenly bursting forth from his body. Seizing the chance, Alix screamed as some of the discharge struck her but managed to break free of his grasp. Jack reached out for her and pulled her behind him as Mark quickly raised his weapon and shot the body, bringing it down. The trio watched in stunned silence for a couple of seconds before Jack felt Alix trembling behind him and pulled her into a swift hug. She gripped back desperately, her whole body shaking. That had been _far_ too close.

Another figure off to their left caught Mark's attention and he spun to shoot it down, only to freeze completely. "No fucking way…" His exclamation caught the other two's attention, only to be rendered just as speechless.

Matt stood a few metres away, flipping a metal disc in his hand while smiling at them, his body carrying none of the ailments of before. His expression grew at seeing the shock in their eyes.

"I told you it wasn't goodbye."

 


	12. One Last Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad to see so many of you are enjoying this! We're in the home stretch now before part 3, so hold onto your hats! The intensity is not going to let up.

" _Matt!"_

Mark quickly holstered his gun and ran to the older man, pulling him into a fierce hug. Matt laughed lightly as he hugged back, just as glad to be reunited with them, while looking over to smile at Jack and Alix. The pair grinned back, though Alix's expression was more than a little strained. Tear tracks were still on her face from when she'd been held hostage and it was clear that she was in pain from how an involuntary wince flitted across her face. Still, she was genuinely thrilled to see Matt was back – and now unharmed.

Matt pulled away from Mark and walked over to the duo standing a little further away, and he chuckled as Jack embraced him tightly. "Fucking _hell_ , dude, it's good to see you," Jack said, voice thick with relief.

"You too, Jack," Matt responded warmly. "Good to see you're still in some sort of spirit given the hell you've been through in here."

Jack snorted as they separated. "That shithead isn't going to win that easy. I won't give him the satisfaction."

That got a smile from Matt in response, who then was surprised by the shy hug he got from Alix. The two of them hadn't seen each other in over a year, though they had spoken across the divide of the Dreamscape and the real world. "It's been a while, Matt," she breathed out unsteadily. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Yeah, it's been too long. Nice to finally see you face-to-face again. You okay?"

Alix smiled slightly as she brushed away the remains of her tears. "A little shaken, but I'll be fine. Just scared at how easy it was for Anti to get the drop on us like that."

Mark scowled while Jack gently turned her around, seeing the damage to her back from the knife. There was a sticky patch on the back of her top, right between her shoulder blades, from where the blade had pierced her skin and she was bleeding, but it wasn't deep. "We weren't expecting him to show up out of the blue like that after what happened before," Mark admitted. "How's the back?"

She grimaced as Jack shifted the material, causing a spike of pain. "It isn't deep, but it definitely hurts."

Jack placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You mind if I take a look?" he asked softly.

Alix smiled back at him and nodded. "Yeah, thanks for asking first," she replied quietly. Holding the front of her top up, she winced when Jack carefully pulled the material down to see the damage. There was an incision about two inches long and a couple of centimetres deep right alongside her left shoulder blade, but the bleeding was already starting to slow. "How's it looking?"

"I think it'll be fine with just a clean and a small covering," he replied as Mark grabbed some supplies out from their bag. Matt helped him find a bandage that could just be stuck to her skin rather than wrapped around as Mark handed Jack a wet rag to clean the worst of the blood away. Alix yelped when the bandage was affixed to her back, but soon breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. "That holding okay?"

She rolled her shoulders and raised both arms in several directions, flickers of pain flashing across her face every so often. "Yeah, it's fine. It'll be painful for shooting I imagine, but I should be good. I guess three of us are in the 'injured' category now," she offered jokingly. All three men laughed at her attempted humour.

Matt shook his head as he stopped laughing. "I don't think I really count since I just came in after a reset, but I was in pretty bad shape myself a little while ago. Don't imagine it'll be too long before I catch up," he teased.

That caused the others to look at him seriously. "Well, I guess that leads on to the question of the hour, Matt. What the fuck happened to you?" asked Jack.

The older man crossed his arms and turned thoughtful. "That virus was still corrupting my data. If it had continued unhindered, then I'd have been rendered completely inert, and I don't want to think about what the long-term effects beyond the Dreamscape would have been. I managed to activate the quarantine protocols inside the Dreamscape, which pulled me out of the simulation by default. Once it managed to catch the virus, I re-uploaded myself. That little disc I gave you was a tiny beacon, Alix. Following that signal, I could lock on and drop in near you guys, rather than landing in a random location."

Alix's eyes lit in recognition. "A beacon? Wait, that means you're a Hacker, doesn't it? That's why Anti suddenly went offline for a while!"

He smiled mysteriously. "Well…I _was_ a Hacker. Not so much now."

That caused Alix to look at him dumbfounded. "You changed class? How?"

"You guys know that I was floating around in the metadata for a while, that I used the knowledge I gained in there to keep Damien locked together with me. Well, what's to stop me manipulating the simulation and… _cheating_ , a little?"

"Cheating?" Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't do that much, but I did find a few files that were deactivated and sitting there inert. A few lines of code and 'bam!'. New class for yours truly." Matt threw the disc he had been flipping around in his hand towards Mark, who caught it nimbly. "Alix might realise what I am when I say, that little thing is an EMP emitter. Combine that with my grenades and a little jamming technology…" Alix's eyes widened impossibly as the connection clicked in her head, "let's just say I'm a little overpowered compared to you guys," he finished with a smirk.

"Holy shit," Alix breathed, "you're a Saboteur."

Matt winked. "In one."

Jack looked between them in confusion. "Hold on, what?"

"When the others were designing the classes for this simulation, they wanted it to be hard. You were meant to have just enough to level the playing field in a team, not ever to have an advantage against whatever you might find in here. They were aiming for only a 28 percent escape rate, so the classes couldn't have too many abilities. There were a couple of classes they designed, but then sectioned them off after deeming them too powerful.

"The Saboteur is one of them. Matt's little EMP emitters and grenades can deactivate anything electrical in range, while his jamming technology will scramble any signals in the area. It means he can take down the machines in one go, _guaranteed_ , and he's untraceable by any tracker."

Jack and Mark shared a look of amazement. "Fucking hell, Matt. How the hell did you manage to do that?" Mark asked.

"Like I said, I found the files when I was floating around in the metadata," Matt continued. "I didn't think I'd be able to use them without Anti or Damien stopping me, so I left them alone. Once I realised what was going to happen as soon as I came into the simulation with the virus, I came up with a plan. With Damien gone, I deliberately entered the game as a Hacker to lock Anti into a computer subsystem for a while, but I knew that wouldn't hold him. It would make life difficult for him, but over time he'd get faster and faster at escaping. We needed a way to remove him from the game, not stall him.

"Since those two were out of the picture, I managed to set up a subroutine to allow me to activate the Saboteur files once I was free of quarantine. When I was about to re-enter Mesmeria, I tweaked my class to become a Saboteur. It means we don't have to worry about the machines to anything like the same degree. That…wasn't the reason I picked this, though.

"With my new ability to jam signals, it means I can block Anti from being able to mess with anything around us. As long as I'm in the party, he can't mess with any of the electronics, and since I can neutralise any machines within a certain range, he can't physically get near either," he finished with a smile of triumph.

The other three stared at him in wonder. "So…you're basically an anti-Anti character?" Alix whispered.

Mark barked a laugh. "Hah, anti-Anti. Nice one, Alix. So, in all seriousness, Matt can stop Anti from getting the jump on us again? Damn, that's going to make life _way_ easier. I can see why the rest of the programmers thought this class was OP'd as hell. Makes me wonder why they developed a class like that in the first place."

"The design of Mesmeria wasn't so heavily electronically based originally," Alix explained. "Once they finally settled on a futuristic setting, it became clear the Saboteur was going to be way too strong. I'm sure they kept the files in case they wanted to implement it in another simulation."

"Well, whatever the reason, it's going to be a life saver right now," Jack summarised. "It's probably going to be how we get into this damn power station. How's your aim, Matt?"

Matt winced. "Er…yeah, that's the snag."

Mark stared at him. "What 'snag'?"

The older man sighed and held out his hand for a gun. Mark handed him his pistol, but just before it came in contact with Matt's hand, a barrier of code appeared and went haywire between the two surfaces. Matt soon stretched down to reach for Mark's knife, but the exact same thing happened again. "I can't use conventional weapons," Matt clarified. "I guess that was their attempt to nerf the class. All I can use is the gadgets I've got, and they've all got recharge timers on them, except for the jammers."

"Damn, that's annoying considering the aim you have in Glaysha," Jack commented. "Would have been nice to have another sharp set of eyes." Realising how that would come across, Jack shifted to give Mark and Alix an apologetic look. "No offense to you guys."

Alix smiled warmly at him. "None taken, Jack, we know what you mean. Unfortunately, Matt is going to have to be careful with his EMP technology. Using localised electromagnetic bursts in an area that controls all the electricity in the map? We can't risk knocking out the whole plant and destroying our opportunity to get the exit portal up and running."

Mark's eyes widened. "Shit, didn't think of that. And if Matt can't use another weapon, we've got a problem."

Matt's gaze sharpened. "That's not true. I've still got standard grenades, and I can scramble the signals of the machines, leaving them disorientated. My class isn't called Saboteur for nothing: I'm meant to create chaos, not necessarily be a weapon."

"All right, guess that means we need a plan. Anyone with any ideas?"

* * *

Some scouting of the site around the power plant revealed that it was heavily patrolled, but having dealt with the machines so often now, they soon worked out their search patterns. Matt slipped into their team seamlessly, and he took over tracker duties from Mark to allow the other man to focus fully on their surroundings. Mark stuck with his pistol, however, now starting to get used to it, rather than switching to the rifle. With two people now focused solely on their surroundings, Mark led them with Jack covering the rear; Matt and Alix kept their attentions split between their tablets and the area around them.

It turned out the interference from before had been Matt's Saboteur abilities affecting them unintentionally as he tried to slow Anti down. Now knowing what was causing it, Matt and Alix worked together to modify the equipment so that it was immune to Matt's frequency.

Not only did that give them use of the tracker and map back, but it allowed Matt to turn his skill up to the max. There was no way that Anti would be able to track them now: even though the glitch knew exactly what they were up to. They were just going to have to keep an eye on him not taking a wild shot at Matt from long range. Anti was bound to prioritize targeting Matt in an effort to neutralize him.

After a few minutes of watching carefully, the quartet headed through the cramped courtyard as they crept their way towards a side entrance. Various metal and plastic crates were dumped around the facility, giving them lots of available cover, and it made their journey relatively painless. As they approached the door, they found it powered down. Mark quickly got to work and opened it with one of his batteries, but he realised he was steadily running out. Once the other three were inside, Mark quickly grabbed the battery as he dove in, just managing to not get squished by the rapidly closing doors. As they powered down again, he then experimented with opening them manually.

It wasn't a difficult process, but it was lengthy. He decided it was probably best to save the batteries for urgent situation and default on the manual override.

The quartet moved through the station at speed, but they had no real idea of where to go. Alix could see two rooms which could potentially be control facilities, so they cycled through to check each of the rooms in turn, looking in any other areas they could along the way for more supplies. As it so happened, they found a treasure trove of extras en route: another headset for Matt, extra bandages and some antiseptic, some expended batteries which they were hoping they could charge for Mark, and a huge amount of ammunition. Jack kept the bulk as Mark and Alix loaded up the best they could.

Entering the first of the suspected rooms, they were disappointed to find it was actually a maintenance bay for the machines – though that did give them the opportunity to make sure they wouldn't be an issue in the future. They methodically went around the room, making sure all the machines were either incapacitated fully, or had no viable power core. Satisfied that they wouldn't be ambushed in the future, they were just moving out as they heard crackling over the speaker system.

All of them froze, trying to make out the voice. It was so garbled and indecipherable, however, that it soon became apparent that they weren't going to lean anything from it. Choosing to ignore it for the time being, they moved onwards to the second room, which was only a few corridors away. Matt detected two machines patrolling the area break their pattern and head straight towards them, causing the group to take cover in another room.

Once they got within twenty metres, however, the machines abruptly stopped.

The quartet watched the tracker in interest as the pair stalled in place for a good ten seconds, and then turned around and went back to their patrol path. They all shared a look of confusion before Matt realised what had happened: Anti had hijacked them but couldn't keep control as he ran into the range of Matt's jammers. That caused all of them to smile.

_Finally,_ they had the advantage on the glitch. This could be what helped get them all home.

Now with a greater feeling of freedom, they advanced onwards. On the way, they spied another pair of machines on patrol. Feeling emboldened, Matt took out two of his EMP emitters. The little devices would only shock out something which they made direct contact with, rather than taking out an entire area, so he was eager to see how they worked in practice. Stalking quickly up behind them, Matt threw one of the emitters from each hand, watching with a gleeful expression as the machines short circuited the moment the devices landed. The other three stared at the scene, the shock on their faces morphing to wide smiles. Matt quickly retrieved the discs and retreated back to the group, but their spirits were now higher than at any other point of their journey through Mesmeria. Even as they advanced, small smiles could be seen on their faces.

The second room turned out to be their target, and Alix quickly strode over to the consoles to work out what their next course of action. As she was typing away, the other three started looking at the various diagrams throughout the room. Mark was the first to realise this was going to be a lot harder than simply hitting a single switch. "Hey, guys," he shouted over to Jack and Matt. The duo spun around and joined him as Mark pointed out what he'd found. "Am I the only one thinking this looks like a puzzle key?"

Matt shook his head. "Nope, I'm thinking exactly the same, dude."

One large display at the side of the room showed what looked like a circuit diagram, multiple paths branching out from a central hub. Following it out, they realised the paths were all lit with different colours and there were other symbols at the side of the map. "Let's spread out," Jack suggested, "see if there are any other hints across the room on how to decrypt this."

Jack and Matt left for other sides of the room, studying the other displays in more detail. The Irishman was the first to find something. "Hey, Mark! I've got those symbols over here too!" he shouted over. "Looks like they correspond to different circuit breakers inside the station."

"Well that's not going to be enough to figure out which ones we need, we've got twenty different symbols!" Mark realised. "Matt, anything?"

"Yeah, I've got another diagram on this wall," Matt called out. "Seems like I've got a map of the monorail system here for some reason, but areas of the map are highlighted in colours too?"

"Huh? Why would there be a monorail map inside a _power_ station?" Jack asked aloud. "Isn't that a little odd when there aren't any monorail stations near here?"

"It's because all the power travels along the tracks!" Alix worked out. "We need to activate the right breakers to travel along the specific monorail lines!"

"So, we need to find the combination to power the central plaza?" Mark concluded. "Matt, which colour corresponds to it?"

"Er, gimme a sec," he answered, unsure. "There's two! Blue and Orange both overlap it."

"Shit, all right, where was the portal again?" Mark wondered.

"We're going to need both sides if we're going to power down these shitheads too!" Jack reminded him. "You can bet Anti's going have sentries crawling over the area now that he knows he can't get near us. I think we need to make sure we reactivate the security tower too."

"Good call, Sean. All right, how do these symbols fit into it, then? We've got no apparent connection between the symbols and the colours!"

All of them were deep in thought when another earthquake tore through the area. The force was so severe that all of them were knocked from their feet. Matt and Mark both crashed to a knee while taking hold of a table while Jack landed hard on side as he overbalanced before steadying himself. Alix dropped to her knees and braced herself against the edge of the console as they all shared looks of concern.

The feeling abruptly morphed to pure dread as they all heard the rending and screeching of metal under duress, watching as the wall nearest Mark began to split apart. He threw himself backwards towards Matt, the older man grabbing a hold of him and dragging him further from the danger. The wall crumpled under the strain, compressing in on itself as the earthquake continued. A thin crack appeared in the floor beneath Alix and she quickly hurtled herself away, not willing to chance the floor collapsing beneath her.

It continued to intensify, and the crack soon widened even further. Fearing that the room was about to collapse, Alix struggled back to her feet and brought up several more screens on the console. "Alix!" Jack shouted as he shuffled back from the gap.

She screamed as the floor shifted violently to the side, the whole side of the room tilting away. Jack too shouted as he found himself lurching across, frantically trying to stay at least semi-balanced. Matt and Mark realised what was happening and stretched out hands for the other two to take. "Alix, Sean, jump! The room is going to collapse!" Mark screeched.

Jack scrambled back to his feet, barely able to stop himself from sliding on the tilted floor and pushed himself towards the programmer. "Alix, come _on!_ " he roared, bodily hauling her away. She barely managed to hit one last command on the console before surrendering to Jack, the pair turning to stare at the gap now separating them from their friends. Mark and Matt were barely managing to stay upright, but kept their hands outstretched across the ever-widening gap.

Refusing to waste time thinking about the consequences, Alix and Jack both pushed themselves from the console while simultaneously kicking back against it. The momentum was enough for them to just break into a running leap across the gap, Alix catching a hold of Mark as Jack latched on to Matt's arm. The pair hauled the other two back to relative safety, but the quartet didn't hang around as they saw the walls around them beginning to crumble.

The whole facility was going to collapse under the strain.

They broke out into stumbling runs as the earthquake continued, sprinting away from the room into the maze of corridors leading back out. In their rush, none of them thought to check the tracker, and soon found themselves face-to-face with two sentries on patrol.

None of them had any weapons drawn, and the sentries already had their guns raised.

As three members of the group froze, Matt quickly threw one of his EMP grenades, knowing they had nothing left to lose. One of the machines managed to get a volley of fire away as the grenade detonated, the two machines shorting out and collapsing moments later.

For once, the group managed to escape unscathed. Two shots had landed dangerously close to Mark and Matt, but they dodged by no more than a hair's breadth.

The earthquake finally subsided.

Despite the reprieve from that threat, they could still hear the squealing and straining of the building around them. Matt shared out the EMP grenades he was carrying as the other three quickly drew their weapons, the quartet charging onwards with the sole aim of escaping the dying structure. They had six more corridors to navigate before they reached the side exit, and they found themselves barrelling straight into two more groups of sentries.

With Jack and Matt in the lead, the pair brought the machines down with a combination of solid firearm usage and electronic gadgets. The corridors continued to groan as they began to give in, and the rooms along one side of their current location all caved in, causing the group to shout and scream in surprise. As they ran to the opposite end and were about to round into the final passage, Jack and Matt came to an abrupt halt as they found six sentries standing guard. "Shit, go back!" Jack screamed as the pair barely managed to avoid being shot to pieces.

Matt's EMP was shot while he still held it, causing the electrical pulse to detonate in his hand. He screeched from the residual burn as Mark hauled him into cover. Jack skidded to his knees and threw himself around a corner as he dodged an onslaught of lasers. Alix was prepared to throw another grenade around at the group when they heard a deafening screech of weakening metal and stonework. It crashed not far from them, and when the gunfire stopped so quickly, they had a very bad feeling on where it had just landed.

Sure enough, one look around the corner confirmed it. The group had been crushed under the collapse, but with it their exit had been blocked. "Fuck! Now what?!" Jack yelled across the gap as Mark frantically wrapped Matt's burned hand with one of the fabric ties from his arms.

Alix fished out the map from their supplies and quickly found their way out. "The main entrance is the only other way! We've got to get there before this whole place goes!" she screamed back, leading the way. Jack rapidly caught up with her as Mark managed to get Matt at least partially patched up. The older man nodded in thanks and pulled out the trackers, hoping to at least avoid a similar trap again.

He soon realised all the other sentries were waiting for them outside the main entrance: there was no way they could stop twenty of them without a solid plan. "Guys!" His shout caught their attention and they saw what he was holding. "We need a plan!"

"How many?" Jack asked as he rounded another corner, rifle raised to fire.

"Twenty, and it looks like they're waiting for us."

"How far do these EMP grenades go do you reckon?" Mark asked him.

"No idea, haven't exactly used them much! I think they'd do a fair bit of damage, I think."

"Then let's hope our aims are sharp enough!" Alix shouted from the front, the group rapidly approaching the other exit. A piece of the ceiling above them partially collapsed right next to Mark, catching him on the leg. He yelled in pain and Matt quickly managed to push the debris off his pinned ankle, but it had already done damage. Mark just managed to stop himself from limping, but there was definite damage. At best, it was a deep bruise; at worst…

He couldn't afford a break, no matter how minor.

They managed to make it to the main entrance as the building was squealing its last, the group sharing brief glances at each other from either side of the doors. Sure enough, all the sentries had their weapons raised and aimed at the doors. "Looks like their friends told them about company," Jack snarled, quickly reloading his rifle.

Matt tossed more EMP grenades to Alix and Mark at the other side of the doors, the pair fishing out the ones they already held. The three of them would be tossing two each while Jack focused on suppressing fire. With any luck, the grenades would take out almost all of the machines and allow them the window they needed to get as far away as possible.

Another rumble from the ground quickly caused them all to seize in fear. If another earthquake hit now, they were done for.

Not having any more time to think out a more cohesive plan, the quartet all burst out through the open doors towards any cover they could find. Matt, Alix and Mark all hurtled their weapons as Jack ran and gunned, drawing as much attention to himself as he could. It had the intended effect, giving the trio enough time to aim and launch their bombs before diving into cover.

The six EMPs' combined effects had a devastating effect on the area, the electromagnets compounding each other, destroying all the machines in proximity but the feedback had a critical effect on their group too. Jack's rifle backfired and became useless, while the primed pistols all suffered the same fate. Matt and Alix both screeched as they felt the tracker and map in their possessions short out and crack beyond all salvage, while Mark's batteries all shorted from within his pack.

Tell-tale screeching of metal from nearby told them that the building was about to give out completely and the quartet sprinted away at top speed, managing to get themselves clear just as it crumbled to dust.

The next earthquake was nowhere near as long nor damaging, but they all still waited with baited breath until it passed. As it finished, Mark collapsed to the ground and leant back, taking all the strain off his injured ankle and shin while the others just fought to get their breath back. That had been _far_ too close for comfort.

"Shit!" Jack swore as he stood back up, pacing the area liked a caged lion as the situation finally sank in. "Fuck, we've lost the station! How the hell are we meant to power the exit portal now?!"

Alix saw Mark gritting his teeth in pain and sat down next to him, feeling around his ankle for any damage. The half-Korean hissed several times at her prodding, while the programmer spoke to the group sombrely. "I managed to redirect control of the exit portal to a server hub just off the central plaza. There are emergency power generators there. I honestly don't know if we even _can_ power it with that…but it's a chance," she finished sadly.

Matt sighed as he saw Mark jolt away violently from Alix's probing. He unravelled the hastily wrapped bandage around his hand and winced as the burn became exposed to air. Jack came over and fished out some of the antiseptic they had, Matt yelping as it made contact with his damaged skim. "How's Mark's ankle?" he hissed through gritted teeth, trying his best not to yank his hand away from Jack's first aid.

"His ankle is deeply bruised I think," she assessed, "his shin is what I'm more worried about. Mark found the pressure on there a lot more severe. I'll wrap it up to try and keep it tight, but I don't know what damage there is."

"Wonderful…" Mark sighed in pain. "Just what we need. So, what do we do now?"

The four of them shared a heavy look before Matt spoke up again. "I guess we need to head to that server hub, right? See if we can actually get it up and running or not. I dare not think how low Mesmeria's stability is after that round of earthquakes. This could be our last chance to get out of here."

Jack's eyes narrowed at a glitching screen on a building on the opposite side of the street, knowing exactly what it was. This wasn't over yet. "Yeah…one last chance. We'd better make it count."

* * *

T͇͇̰̳̰̈́ͅi͔͓̭̗͔̗̮͌ͬ̂̃̍͆̓c̙̘̠̲̹̥k͙̱̲͈̖̠̾̋͐̓̉̎ͅ ̖̩͉̬ṱ̱̞͈͋̃̆̐͗͐̏o̠̳̜̫̤̓̆̉̑̐c̲̭̼̙͔̬̝ͩk̳̦ͧ̊̋̈̿̿ͩ,ͤͣ ̘̮b̻̭͙̥̜̥͆͌i͒̽̊t͙̤̬͈̱͓͋̌̌̇̎ͯ̽c͖͚̪͇̣̣̏̏̔̏h̥̞̱̩̮̅͗ͧͨ̌̏̃e͚̳ͦͭͧ́͌ͬș̭̻͖̱ͭ̓.͑ͮͯ ̲͚̇͆ͬ̉̋̀̓O̟̤̮̟̣̲̓͗u͇̼̝̰̽ͫ̃̊̆ͅr̰͖̠ͭͯͩ ͣ̉̿̽͆̋ͫg̺̝ͧ̐̅́͗͊͋am̠͖̊̓̌͆ͅe̱͊̒̄̋ ̺̤̫̯̗̅̎̃̉̒͑͌i̬͓̲͕͕̟ͭs̲̜͈͎̮͓̃́͊́̀ ̻̰̲̩̝̊̚c̤̈́ͣ̿o̓m̙̩i̊̉n͚̼̫̙̭̟̐̉ͮg̯͇̻ͤ ͔̠̬̘̹̅ͤ̂̃t͓̖͓ͥ̅ͭͥ̊ͩoͯ̆̑̇̚ ̯̥͈͒a͑n̤͔̚ ̹ͤ̑̍ͮ̓e͓͚̠̰ͅṉ̪̘̔̌͒̄ͩd̻͉ͫ͆̿̽̌,ͯ̒ͩ̐̚ ̹̯̫̺̣̠̱̽̉̅ͪ̏ā̲͙͎̮̈́ͩ̈͊̎͊n͙̣̂ͬ͋̒͆̊̿d̘̩͓̖̮̣ͮ̋̓̊ͭ͒͐ ͍̲̺̈̊̊̍̍́͊ͅm̯̞̗̝̫̙̽̿͊̇y̻̩̱͎ͥ̏͊͐͂ ̹̟͓͎ͮ̓ͮ͐̑ͩ̈́ͅṗ̦͙͋̍̂rͮ̔ͤ̊ͭḯ̟͉͉̭͈̗͕͒ͨ̃z̯̋ͩ̎̇̎ͧe̙̰͙ͤ͌̆̑͊ͦ̍ ̩̞̘̬͋ͥ̉ͫi͐ͯ̂s͖͕ ̥̈o͉̟̮̭ͧ͗ͫ͋h̻̲̩͔͉̥ͨ͂̎ ̐̃ͨ̉̎s̺̞̱̄ͅo͙̬ ͕̪͈́͂̒̊͐̊̋c̫͓͔͚l͎̗̓̄ͪo̤͖̪̼̓̆͑s̭̮̻eͣ̄.͔ͤ̽̌͌ ̺  
̞͑̑S̟̘̟̻͓ͨo͈̻̬͈̮͙̫o̟̺̠̥̘̦ͩͯ̂ͮ̽͑ͪń͔͓͊͐̔,ͦ̍ͭ ̬̬̈́ͭI̘̝͖̜̗̝̒͐'̞̳l̙͓̻̼̐̾l̩͔̯͕̗̻̰ͬ ͖͍̱̝̌̌ͅf̙̦̼͗̐̇̍̚í͍̬̬̣ͭͦͫͣͮ̚n͊̅͒͒̉a̟͙̮͎ͨ͛̓̄̀̆l̹̱̦͕̝̆̈́̾͛ͩ̈́̆ͅḻ̺̼̥̱̺ͤ̓͆̌̋̅y̫ ͐̊̅̔ͧb̦͉̝͕̮ͬͧͪ͌ͤͅe͖͕̩̳͌́̑͋ ̼̣͒ͦ͑͆͗̋F̪͓ͫ̊͛ͅR͇̣̱͈̩̿ͩ̓̉E͕̍Ḛ̭̈ͮ̓̆̆  
̘̙̮̟͖̽ͧͪͧ͒

**_EMERGENCY_ **

**_Mesmeria parameters critical, simulation stability at 21%._ **

**_Simulation collapse estimated in one hour, 49 minutes._ **

**_Evacuate simulation immediately._ **

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zalgo translations:
> 
> Tick tock, bitches. Our game is coming to an end, and my prize is oh so close.
> 
> Soon, I'll finally be FREE.


	13. Sprint Finish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist alert! For anyone with my Dreamscape playlist, this is Supercharger.
> 
> For those who don't have it (but are still curious as to where a big section of this chapter is inspired from), have a listen to Supercharger (Remastered) by Sybrid. I'll tell you all the exact scene at the end.
> 
> If you thought the last chapter was intense, hold on tight. This one is insane.

It was only as they were preparing to move on from the ruined area that the group realised the scale of damage not only to the simulation around them, but also to themselves. Physically, the worst was Mark's injured leg – the severity of which they still couldn't tell – but they discovered their destroyed weapons and electronics courtesy of the EMPs. None of them regretted their course of action, it had been entirely necessary to escape from the station, but it was going to make their lives much harder.

Alix gave Jack her undamaged rifle, while Mark's was still intact as both weapons had been powered down when the grenades went off. All of their pistols were history, however, which meant that Alix was only armed with her knife for the time being. The greatest losses were the tracker and map: without those, they would be advancing blind. They did know their way back through the alleys to the monorail station at least, and Alix had memorised the location of the server hub which she had re-routed control of exit portal to.

While they advanced, the group couldn't help but stare at the catastrophic destruction of the buildings, paths and general scenery around them. Whole segments were obliterated and collapsed into rubble, while others had simply glitched out of existence. They feared that their station may have suffered the same fate, but the damage there was of nothing like the same magnitude. It was notable, but not sufficient enough to stop the monorail from running. A small relief.

They set off on their journey back towards the central plaza without any unwanted company, and once they were on board, Mark quickly took the strain off his injured leg. Matt began examining it, the pair concerned at how often Mark flinched away from certain pressure points. "Well, from what I can tell, I don't think it's broken," Matt offered comfortingly, "but I'm no paramedic. I think the fact that you can walk on it unaided is a good sign, though."

Mark chuckled. "Let's use the term 'walk' loosely, Matt," he joked back. "I'm hobbling, but yeah, I think you're right. There doesn't seem to be any breaks, but my shin _really_ didn't like the angle that debris came down at. It's still screaming at me even now." The half-Korean's eyes shifted upwards towards Jack and Alix, the pair staring at a screen on the side of the monorail cab in matching seriousness. "Take it the news isn't good then, guys?"

They both looked towards him at the shout, switching to share a gaze between them briefly before turning back. "Well, it's good and bad," Alix answered slowly. "The good news is that we've now got a timer for a full simulation collapse, so we know it won't go before hitting zero percent stability."

"The bad is that we've only got one hour and twenty-four minutes left before this place is history," Jack added solemnly. "It'll take us another sixteen minutes to reach the central plaza at least, which leaves us an hour to get out."

Matt winced. "That really isn't a lot of time."

"No, it's not," Alix lamented. "The simulation stability is only at 16%, this place is going downhill fast. I get the feeling Anti might be speeding up the decline in an effort to trap us here."

"Sounds likely, after what happened at the power station," Mark agreed. "That earthquake came out of nowhere as was seriously intense, not to mention we've not felt anything since. Coincidence much?"

Matt hesitated before asking his next question. "Alix, you guys will have probably spent months debating this when you were all first constructing the Dreamscape, but what do you think is going to happen when Mesmeria does collapse? Did you build in many safety protocols?"

Alix sighed as she took a seat. "We programmed in as many fail safes as we could, but we could only make educated guesses. Not to mention after all of Damien and Anti's meddling, I have no idea what is or isn't working any more. The auto-eject was intended for in-game deaths as well as accidental crashes or disconnections, so it would have been the first line of defence, but I don't know if I reprogrammed that right or not. We always theorised that if a simulation crashed with players still inside, they would be pulled out via the auto-eject. So, I've no idea what will happen if that isn't active…"

Mark looked up at the others grimly. "You suggested before that if the simulation went with players still inside that they might be lost. Is it possible to re-route the data somewhere?"

She looked thoughtful. "Maybe, but it's not something we could do from the inside. That level of coding would only be possible from the outside as it is so complex. I just really hope we don't end up finding out the answer to this question the hard way."

The other three couldn't help but agree with her.

* * *

They made it to the central plaza ahead of time thanks to Alix managing to manipulate the monorails to go at their maximum speed, but it only saved them four minutes. Still, 1 hour and 12 minutes sounded a lot better than 1 hour and 8 minutes until Mesmeria collapsed. Those four minutes could end up proving pivotal in the future.

When they disembarked, Mark and Jack took the lead with the other two close behind. Matt shared many of his grenades, both EMP and standard, with Alix, just so that she would have some form of long-range weaponry, while the two younger men continued on with their guns. Now with no form of tracker or map, they could only rely on their eyes for what was going on around them.

It was terrifying to have that security wrenched away from them now that things were getting so dangerous.

The central plaza had almost two dozen sentries patrolling it now, a far cry from their first visit, but the group only had to skirt along a small portion of the outer edge to reach the server hub. It was at the same end as the exit portal, and when they slipped away down an alley towards the building, they realised it was actually parallel to the portal itself. While approaching the structure, Alix noted the strange tubes and pods which were built into the alley walls. She directed the attention of the others towards them, and they all were confused at something so out of place. "The hell are these for?" Jack asked.

"My gut says these are for escape pods," Alix commented with suspicion, "but that makes no sense. Escape pods from what?"

Matt ran ahead to the end of the alley and looked up, scanning the area to confirm his suspicion. "Almost all of the major buildings around here have those tubes, and they all connect into the alleys surrounding the plaza. I'd say it's a deliberate mechanic of the game."

"So, we can use those to get out of the server hub?" Mark asked with a grimace. Standing still was worse for his leg than the movement.

"Looks that way. It might be a lot faster given how far we still have to run to that building. How's the leg holding?"

"Fine, I'll be fine. Jogging on it is no worse than walking."

"We should probably keep moving," Alix noted. "We must be around the hour mark now, we can't afford to hang around too much."

The sharp reminder of how little time they had left spurred the group on, and they jogged on towards the server hub. It was an imperious building, well over a hundred floors high and designed curiously. Many of the buildings around the central plaza were built just like normal skyscrapers, but the server hub was different. The base was pyramid-shaped, while the top fifty floors were more traditional. They could see through the windows as they approached that there were hundreds of screens inside, and an involuntary shiver ran through Jack before his eyes fell back to Matt.

No, they wouldn't be vulnerable here. Matt's Saboteur abilities would stop Anti fucking around with them.

Or at least, that was the theory anyway.

As they got closer they realised there was something even more strange about the server hub. It was surrounded by dozens of bridges leading to different levels of the building. They approached from all angles from other buildings and elevated pathways. It was almost like a glass and metal maze. The sudden importance of this building stuck out.

Their chances of this being a viable option to powering the exit portal were growing by the minute.

Treading carefully along a bridge which connected to their street, they couldn't help but stare out over the sides. Jack flinched back when he saw the drop below them and Alix followed suit. Mark and Matt both grimaced as they all shared heavy looks. Beneath their own segment of the building there was nothing: all they could see were the outlines of the Mesmeria framework, but it still seemed like a terrifying fall. Other segments had lower walkways and streets below them.

"Fucking hell…" Jack muttered. "Haven't we dealt with enough shit with heights already?" Alix smiled sympathetically at him and rubbed a hand along his arm. Jack flashed her a grateful smile.

"I'm more concerned about the fact that there is literally _nothing_ below us," Matt stated while leaning over the edge of the bridge to try and look at the mountings. "It seems stable, but I don't want to think about what's going to happen if a strong earthquake hits this area."

The other three nodded in agreement. They had realised on their way over from the destroyed power station that only that segment of Mesmeria had been crippled by the quake, the rest seemed mostly undamaged, save for the odd window or object which had fallen. If Anti could localise the source of the tremors, then he could possibly cut them off inside the server hub.

"Shit, why'd this thing have to be in such a vulnerable location?" Mark swore.

"Our bloody luck?" Jack offered.

"Not helpful, Sean."

Despite their reservations, the quartet continued onwards, doing their best not to look at the vast chasm below them. Once they reached the building Jack and Mark took point again, Alix and Matt ready with EMP grenades if they needed them. As with all the other buildings they had breached, the entrance lobby was completely empty. Knowing they needed information, Alix quickly tapped into the blueprints of the buildings from what looked like a reception desk, bringing them up for the others to see.

"All right, looks like the power redirection systems are on the 88th floor," she summarised while flicking through the screens. "except there doesn't seem to be a direct way up there. We can take elevators up to the 65th floor where the building layout changes, but we'll have to advance through there to another set further inside."

"Who doesn't build an elevator that goes all the way through a building?" Jack asked in exasperation.

Mark chuckled. "You'd be amazed how stupid engineers can be; we've all seen the memes."

Alix smiled cheekily at him. "Could have been you, had YouTube not happened."

Matt joined in the fun. "Hey, some of those memes might have been a little work on the side, you never know."

Mark scowled at the pair of them. "Can we not?" The trio sniggered at Mark's pout, but the brief interlude was welcome.

Alix bit her lip as she continued. "Looks like the best way up is going to be through the southwest elevator, and then to advance towards the southern elevator once we reach the 65th floor. It hopefully won't take us any more than ten minutes to reach the top."

"That's still a sixth of our remaining time, we'd better hurry."

The group moved as fast they could to the elevator in question, and by the time they reached it they could all see Mark was struggling with the pain in his leg. He really needed some time to recover, but that was a luxury they most certainly did _not_ have. Besides, it would only last less than an hour, at most, anyway.

He could take the moderate pain if it meant escaping.

When their elevator stopped on the 65th floor, all the hairs on the backs of their necks stood on end when they soon realised that this section of the hub was decidedly incomplete. The whole right-hand half of the corridor was a mess of missing panels and sparking wires, while a howling wind was tearing through the area. Alix shivered as they advanced. "Damn, it's cold," she muttered, the quartet continuing on. That corridor was one of the better ones around the perimeter, the next one they came across also contained many segments of floor which were exposed with live circuits. With some careful manoeuvring between the electrical traps they continued on, but they soon came to a junction.

On the left, the corridor looked more complete and much more like the finished design, while the onwards path continued the dangerous exposed route. It didn't take much debate before they headed left, further into the structure.

Another minute later saw them come to another intersection, but this time there was no obvious choice on which route to take. "Okay, which way do you reckon, Alix?" Matt asked.

She turned her gaze out through the exposed walls to get a sense of their direction before pointing them to the right-hand path, rather than continuing on. "Down that way, we shouldn't have much further to go before we reach the elevator," she answered.

Just as they were about to all disappear down it, Jack heard something from the other path and quickly raised his rifle. Seeing his tense pose, Mark mirrored his actions and came to a stop. "Sean, what did you hear?" he whispered.

The mutter caught the attention of the other two as the Irishman glared down the hallway. "I'm not sure, but it definitely sounded mechanical," he hissed back. Alix and Matt watched in concern, but Mark beckoned for them to continue on. They gave a hesitant look, at which Jack nodded. "You two scout out ahead, I'll watch our six."

Making sure their grenades were ready at a moment's notice, Alix and Matt continued on stealthily, suddenly very aware that they probably weren't alone up here. It was a naïve notion to think they would have been in the first place. Anti surely knew that this was their only way out of here now and would, almost certainly, have company waiting for them.

They were not expecting what happened next.

As Alix and Matt advanced, they broke an infra-red beam running just above the floor. An alarm blared through the area as a stream of lasers sprang up behind them, instantly cutting the pairs off from one another. Alix and Matt turned at the sound and saw the blue beams just as they were being generated, too slow to stop them. "Shit! Guys!" Alix screamed.

Mark and Jack stopped looking around in confusion from the alarm and realised the source of her panic. Mark's eyes widened and he ran over, looking to see if there was any way he could override it. "Fuck! What happened?!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know!" she yelled back, looking for a panel to access on her side.

Jack heard heavy footfalls from the other path and swore, raising his gun again. "Mark, company!"

The half-Korean hissed under his breath. "Shit! There's no time!" He turned to Alix. "You two keep going! We'll double back and find the other elevator!"

Matt stared at him, stunned. "Are you nuts, Mark?!"

"We don't have a choice, just do it!"

Jack could see shadows appearing at the other end of the corridor. " _Mark!"_

Mark backed away as he prepared his rifle. " _ **Go!**_ "

The other two knew they were out of options and sprinted away, hoping that Jack and Mark could find a way back to them.

The Irishman laid down a barrage of covering fire as Mark retreated back to him and the pair sprinted back down the way they came, having little choice but to take the more dangerous route from their previous intersection. Lasers came streaming past the pair as the sentries chasing them tried to bring down their prey, and a few came too close for comfort. The pair fired backwards, turning back for split seconds to make sure they were at least not aiming straight at a wall in an effort to give themselves some breathing room.

As they reached the end of the corridor they dove left, into the dilapidated and ruined passage. Beams had collapsed and wires were hanging down from the ceiling, amongst the fallen panels from the sides and gaps in the floor, making it a veritable obstacle course as they tried to escape. They ducked and dived through the debris, but as much of a hazard as it was, it gave them some valuable cover as they sprinted through. The machines were nowhere near as nimble and were much bulkier than the pair, granting them precious space.

Neither of them dared hesitate at the thought of the danger surrounding them. They knew if they stopped, they were liable to freeze.

On the other side of the floor, Alix and Matt had dashed away, only to soon find that some of the sentries had deactivated the lasers which had separated them from Jack and Mark. As gunfire rained down on them, Matt tossed back an EMP as they dove down another corridor. They were almost to the elevator when another group appeared directly in front of it to block their way.

Alix hauled Matt down a passage to their left and the YouTuber launched a normal grenade this time, not risking the EMP knocking out use of the elevator. It was all for naught: the damage from the explosion was too much in the enclosed space, and the control panel was destroyed. Matt swore at the result and the pair continued down their new path, knowing they needed another way upwards. That elevator was now out of commission, on this floor at least.

As they reached the other end, Alix skidded back as lasers shot in front of the next corridor. She slid an EMP along the floor to neutralize the sentries which had almost jumped them, but they were rapidly running out. Alix only had three more, while Matt supply had dwindled to five. They needed a new plan: offense was not a path they could take.

Turning right, they found the end of their next path took them to the edge of the tower. Just like the other side, the outer wall was damaged and exposed to the elements. An idea came to mind and Alix stopped halfway down their next section, hitting a panel which slammed a set of doors shut right behind them before yanking the battery from the wall. It would stop their pursuers for a while. Matt cottoned on to her idea and ran to the other end of the hallway, looking around the corner. He could hear the heavy footfalls of the sentries changing direction. "We've not got long, Alix!" he shouted over.

Seizing the chance, she leant out through a gap in the wall and looked upwards along the tower, seeing that the damage was substantial enough that they could use the twisted sections as hand and footholds to climb. "Looks like we can get up through here!" she yelled back.

Matt ran back over and helped her slip entirely through the opening, offering a steadying hand as she manoeuvred out and held strong against the stinging wind. Knowing that company wouldn't be far away, he urged her to climb. "Get going, I'll catch up!"

She stared at him in shock. "Matt?!" Seeing what he was planning, however, she realised she could still help. Alix tested out the stability of the warped metal and began to slowly haul herself up as Matt fished out two of his normal grenades. He waited until he saw Alix had at least partially ascended before he threw them to the vulnerable end of the corridor. With quick reflexes, Matt then leant through the gap and saw Alix with a hand outstretched above him. He grabbed on tightly and kicked through the gap, quickly ascending above the opening as the twin explosions rocked the area and flames licked below them.

Ignoring the ripping gale and biting cold, the pair worked together to scale the twisted structure, not thinking about how precarious a position they were in. Alix was the first to see a gap in the floor above and the pair shuffled across to it, the programmer sneaking through and turning around to haul Matt through. Now back inside the structure safely, the pair ran towards the elevator, hoping that there was no company on this floor.

They reached it safely and soon punched in the 88th floor, racing upwards to their destination, hoping that Mark and Jack would be there.

* * *

The other pair were having just as many problems, if not more so.

Once they had reached the end of that corridor, they ducked further inwards, only to find they had more company. Forced to take cover back in the exposed passage they had just escaped, the pair were quick enough in shooting down the machines to give them time to stop their pursuers catching up to them; though it was a close run thing. Their meagre advantage had been completely eradicated.

They sprinted onwards and turned away as a new group appeared in front of them, diving down a new path on their right to find some cover. Unexpected help appeared in the form of a set of doors. Jack pushed the panel to open them and Mark slammed them shut behind him. A quick look showed they were powered by a central circuit rather than a battery, so he shot out the controls instead. That would hopefully slow their company down.

Jack had rushed ahead and came to an abrupt halt as he found their next intersection wasn't much of a choice. On the right, the floor had completely been destroyed and all that remained was a tangled mess of wires and metal while the left was another set of double doors a few metres away. He sprinted over and tried to open them in vain, realising there was no power. "Mark!" he shouted, at which the older man ran towards him.

Seeing the problem, Mark was ready to fish out his tools to break open the door when they heard gunfire from the other side. They shared a look of horror and backed away, suddenly realising they were pinned between two groups. "Shit, go back!" Mark urged.

"Mark, there's nowhere _to_ go _!_ We can't traverse that!" Jack told him, and as Mark raced to other path he saw Jack was right. They'd be electrocuted or impaled instantly.

With nowhere to go, Mark went to the broken wall beside them and looked upwards. Everything was barely holding on and Mark didn't dare suggest climbing, there was no way any of it would hold. He swore before turning his gaze downwards instead. It led straight to the glass exterior of the pyramid below them, and it was only a couple of metres jump down. They couldn't even use it to shimmy further along the tower.

_Oh_ _**fuck.** _

Mark suddenly realised they only had one potential way out, and even then it was a huge gamble. He just didn't know if Jack would be brave enough to do it.

The screeching and straining of the doors had both their hearts racing and Jack looked at Mark pleadingly. "Please tell me you've got an idea, dude."

The half-Korean's face was regretful. "I do, but you're _really_ not going to thank me for it," he answered grimly, beckoning Jack over.

As soon as Jack saw the drop, he went completely pale and backed away with a notable tremor in his voice. "N-No. No fucking way, man! That's fucking _nuts!_ "

"Sean, it's our only chance! It's this or we get shot!" The doors gave an almighty groan and the pair looked at them fearfully before Mark grabbed Jack's arm strongly. "Don't think about, just do it!"

Mark pulled Jack with him as the doors on their left finally gave out, the Irishman giving a terrified screech as they jumped. " _ **Shit!**_ "

They landed hard on the glass below them, fortunate that most of their weight actually fell on the metal support beams as they slid downwards. Jack and Mark watched as they began to slide with ever increasing speed, and it didn't take Jack long to realise there was a, potentially fatal, flaw to the plan. "Mark! We've going to fall right into the abyss!" he screeched.

Realising what Jack meant, Mark's eyes fell to black nothingness at the bottom and swore at himself for not having looked before. They were headed straight for the nothingness of the Mesmeria's framework. "Fuck!" He looked around frantically and saw a bridge connecting to the pyramid below them and to their left. They could maybe direct themselves towards it. "Sean! Lean your body so that you can go left!"

Jack obeyed him without question and soon realised Mark's idea when his eyes fell to the bridge. The pair rolled as best they could at that high speed to slow themselves down and sharpen their turn left, finding themselves straight on course to meet the bridge. As they got closer, Mark shouted again. "Go side on, roll into the landing!" Jack nodded and the pair braced themselves for a heavy landing: this was going to hurt.

The bridge they met was wider than the door attached to the pyramid, and rather than having to jump over it, the pair managed to slide all the way down the glass, turning their bodies at the last second to crash heavily on their sides before rolling away several times, coming to a juddering halt a few metres away. They dragged in heaving breaths, taking precious seconds to recover from their ordeal and claw back oxygen. Mark hissed at the stabbing burn through his leg and knew he'd aggravated whatever was wrong with it. That coupled with the violent ache along his side from where he's slammed into the bridge was making his head spin and nausea bubble up through his throat.

Whimpering from nearby ripped through the pain-induced fog and Mark looked over to see Jack huddled up against the edge of the bridge, head held in violently trembling hands as he struggled to take a full breath. Mark's heart clenched as he realised Jack was trapped in a panic attack, no doubt induced from their stunt-like escape.

Swallowing back on the pain coursing through his body, Mark pushed himself up on tired arms and crawled over to Jack, sitting back on his heels as he grabbed Jack's shoulders firmly. "Sean." Jack didn't respond, still hyperventilating and staring at nothingness in a daze. _Shit, he's in deep._ Mark couldn't help but wonder if it was a build-up of everything which had been happening inside Mesmeria coming to a head. His left hand shifted to the back of Jack's head and he gently pulled back, trying to urge the younger man to meet his eyes. "Sean, look at me!" he urged, seeing the frantic glaze in Jack's blue versions. "Come on, Sean, don't break on me now. We're so close to getting out of here, we can do this!"

Jack's eyes slowly began to focus on Mark's own, but his breathing was still erratic. "That's it, Sean, just focus on me," the other man soothed. "Breathe with me, okay? Just breathe." Mark pressed his forehead against Jack's own, hoping the contact would be enough. "Keep looking at me and take deep breaths, okay? It's over, we made it. You don't have to do anything like that again."

It took another minute or so for Jack's breathing to level out, but it was still shaky as the panic finally receded. The Irishman at last managed to inhale deeply and exhale in a long, exaggerated motion. "You're a fucking nutcase, Mark," he eventually muttered out, earning a choked laugh from the other man.

"Thought you knew that about me already? Besides, takes one to know one," he shot back.

Jack spluttered out a laugh of his own. "I ain't disagreeing with you there." He pulled back with a grateful stare, placing a hand on Mark's shoulder to grip tightly. "Thanks, Mark. Sorry for breaking down like that."

Mark's smile in reply was kind. "A perfectly natural reaction given your fear of heights, Sean. Think nothing of it."

The pair sat in exhausted silence for a minute before a voice came through their headsets, and they were immensely relieved to hear it. " _Mark, Jack, you guys okay? Where are you?"_

It was the older man who was the first to reply. "We're okay, Matt, but we've had a rather large setback. Our only way out from pursuit was rather…drastic. We're outside the server hub on the complete opposite side of the plaza."

Alix's voice was the next to come through. _**"Sounds like you guys had a pretty rough time of it."**_

Jack chuckled bitterly. "You've no fucking idea, Alix," he joked, earning an agreeing smile from his friend. "Are you guys all right?"

" _We're all right, we managed to get clear. That's us in the control room now, we're currently trying to activate the portal."_

"Nice work, how's it looking?" Mark asked.

" _ **I should be able to get it up and running from here. If you guys are on the other side of the hub, you're best just heading back to the plaza from there, it'll take you a while to make it back."**_

"How's the clock looking?"

" _ **47 minutes."**_

Mark and Jack shared a look before Jack nodded. "Okay, we'll meet you two at the portal. Are you going to be okay without the help?"

" _We'll be fine, dude. There is an escape pod which runs from the opposite end of this floor to the alley we were in earlier. We can get out of here without running into any more of the machines."_

"All right, be safe. We'll see you soon." With that, they disconnected the link and both YouTubers stood. Mark yelped in pain as soon as he put weight on his leg and Jack caught him. "I'm okay, it's just pretty damn sore," he reassured the younger man.

Jack watched him in obvious concern. "You look like you're in a lot of pain, Mark. Are you sure you can walk?"

"Yeah, it just took a fair pounding inside there from all that running," Mark smiled back, though it was through gritted teeth. Come on, we can't hang around. We have no idea which bridges connect back to the plaza."

"Why don't we try cutting through the hub again? That's got to be more sensible." A quick look at the panel next to the door answered that question: it was sparking and in an obvious state of disrepair. "Shit, looking like we're taking the long way round then. I hope it doesn't take us too long to find a way to link back up with the others."

"You and me both."

* * *

When Matt and Alix emerged on the 88th floor, they soon spied a tube matching the ones they had seen out in the alley next to the central plaza, only this time there was a metal capsule inside. A quick look at the bottom confirmed that there was another lying in wait underneath and the pair shared a smile, now knowing that there was an easy escape route. It looked like their luck had finally changed. With the smiles still on their faces their ran inwards, reaching the control room. A dozen monitors lined the walls of the room and the pair soon set to work on a console each: Alix trying to activate the exit portal while Matt brought up their remaining time before Mesmeria collapsed.

Matt was the first to finish and he breathed a deep sigh of relief at seeing not as much time had passed as he first feared; they still had 49 minutes. "How's it coming, Alix?" he asked while seeing if he could get a map of the area up, or a tracker app.

Alix glared at the screen she was working on and huffed in frustration. "I'm having to re-route a lot of power from other buildings, but I think I can get it working. How we looking on time?"

"We're okay, we managed to get up here pretty much on the same schedule. Take the time you need to make sure the connection is stable." Alix nodded in reply as her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard. Matt turned around to look at the room around them, gut clenched in worry. "Where are they?"

"Maybe try and get in touch with them?"

Nodding at her suggestion, Matt tapped into the frequency they all shared on their headsets. "Mark, Jack, you guys okay? Where are you?"

They were both relieved when Mark's voice came through. _"We're okay, Matt, but we've had a rather large setback. Our only way out from pursuit was rather…drastic. We're outside the server hub on the complete opposite side of the plaza."_

Alix noticeably winced at the description. "Sounds like you guys had a pretty rough time of it."

They heard Jack chuckle. _**"You've no fucking idea, Alix. Are you guys all right?"**_

"We're all right, we managed to get clear. That's us in the control room now, we're currently trying to activate the portal," Matt answered.

" _Nice work, how's it looking?"_

"I should be able to get it up and running from here. If you guys are on the other side of the hub, you're best just heading back to the plaza from there, it'll take you a while to make it back," Alix suggested.

" _How's the clock looking?"_

She peered over at the other screen. "47 minutes."

" _Okay, we'll meet you two at the portal. Are you going to be okay without the help?"_

"We'll be fine, dude. There is an escape pod which runs from the opposite end of this floor to the alley we were in earlier. We can get out of here without running into any more of the machines," Matt reassured them.

" _All right, be safe. We'll see you soon."_

They shared a look as Mark signed off, and spun back to the screens before Alix spoke softly. "Matt." He turned to face her. "You should probably head down to the plaza to test the exit portal. Mark and Jack will take some time to get there, and if this doesn't work to start with, I don't know how many attempts I'm going to get to rectify it if we wait for them."

Matt looked at her in concern. "Are you sure? You'll be vulnerable up here."

Alix smiled at him reassuringly. "Just shoot out the elevator controls when you get to the escape pod, I should be safe. Hopefully they won't use the northern one."

That wasn't what Matt wanted to hear. "Tell you what..." He marched over to the other exit, leading to the northern elevator and swiftly tossed a grenade at it.

She snorted in laughter as the explosion reverberated along the floor. "Subtle."

Matt shrugged in reply. "Hey, it works. Now you should be safe. Keep in contact with me via the headset, okay?" Alix nodded in reply, but was then embraced in a warm hug. If all went according to plan, Matt would soon be back in the real world, but Alix would have to go back to Glaysha. This would be the last time they saw each other inside Mesmeria. "Be careful, okay?"

Alix held him tightly. "You too. I'll make sure not to let you guys down."

With that, Matt nodded in reply and rushed back down the corridor. As promised, he shot out the elevator controls to make sure none of the sentries could follow Alix up to their floor, before stepping into the metal capsule inside the tube. He was alarmed when restraints came across his ankles, thighs, wrists, arms, chest, neck and forehead, but was immensely grateful when he felt the force with which he was launched through the tube. His stomach did a loop as he soon saw nothing but the glitchy sky above him, but it then turned again when the pod rotated and he saw just how high he was above the ground.

As he started descending, Matt closed his eyes when he realised that he was headed headfirst on his downward climb. He peeked them open again when the pod slowed down, wondering what was happening when it then slipped underground, only to quickly be righted and then emerge back at the street level. The restraints released themselves and Matt shook his head, dizzy and disorientated after the journey. "Yikes, that was more than a little weird," he muttered to himself. He crept along the alley, peering out of it to stare first at the inert exit portal, and then at the sentries marching along the plaza.

Fishing out an EMP grenade in preparation for a dash to the portal, Matt lingered in wait. "Come on, Alix, you can do this."

He only had to hold station for another couple of minutes before he saw a flicker of white emerge from the portal. The breath froze in his lungs as he watched in delighted shock when the fire slowly began to illuminate in a dizzying show of light, and then roared in a burst of energy to come fully to life.

" _ **Matt, I think I've got it. You see anything on your end?**_

Matt had a beaming smile on his face as he answered in glee. "I think you've done it, Alix! It looks perfect!"

" _ **Give it a try, I'll hang fire here until Matt and Jack get closer. We'll hopefully only be a few minutes behind you!"**_

"Right, I'll get in contact as soon as I'm back in the real world. Stay safe."

Now with a mission, Matt waited until the next wave of sentries had emerged past his alley before he threw his EMP grenade straight at them, shorting them all out. As they fried, he fished out another of his normal grenades and tossed it as far away as he could. The explosion did its job and distracted the remaining sentries, forcing their attention away as Matt made a manic dash for the portal. The twenty metre dash across the glass plateau and up the three step passed in a flash as Matt made a diving leap at the fire, his hand coming into contact with it before the machines knew of their missed target.

He froze in time before vanishing in a shower of sparkles.

* * *

Back in the tower, Alix watched impatiently on one of the monitors. She'd brought up the player statuses in anticipation, praying that this worked. There was nothing evidently wrong, so if this failed, she had no idea what to try next. The worry was eating inside at her that this all may be for nothing in the end.

Soon, however, she saw Matt's status change in a flash.

_**Matthew Fredrick Exiting Mesmeria Simulation** _

" _Yes!"_ she cheered in delight, taking in a deep, shuddering breath. It was finally happening. Now they could escape and leave the nightmare behind them. And if Alix got her way, none of the other three would ever return. She didn't dare think what would happen to them if they did.

A sinister chuckle through the speakers cut right through her joy like a shard of ice to her chest.

" _Well, well. That wasn't very clever, was it, bitch? You sent away the only one who was stopping me from interfering."_ Alix froze as Anti's words registered and cursed herself for being so careless. She'd forgotten entirely about Matt's passive Saboteur skills blocking Anti. _"Now, let's have a little fun, shall we?"_

Realising the danger she was in, Alix sprinted for the door towards the escape pod, but it slammed shut and the controls shorted out right next to her. In desperation, she ran for the other set but the exact same thing happened again. "No! _No!"_ she screeched as she banged on the metal despairingly, Anti's maniacal laughter ringing through the area.

In a panic, Alix screamed down her headset to the two men outside of the tower. " _Mark, Jack! I'm trapped!"_

Down below, the two of them had been listening to Alix and Matt's conversation and when they heard her cheer as they jogged along the bridges, they had shared a look of triumph. It died a painful and messy death as they heard Anti's re-emergence, and Jack's eyes lit in a mixture of panic and fury as they heard the glitch's intention. " _No you don't, you bastard!"_ he cried before tearing off at a run, Mark unable to keep up with him.

"Sean, don't!" he screamed as he bit through the pain to try and catch up, Jack taking the bridges at top speed to try and get back to the server hub.

They both froze at hearing Alix's agonised cry when she couldn't escape, and Jack shouted in defiance when her terrified voice rang through to tell them she was locked in. "Alix, hold on! I'm coming to get you!"

A slow rumble began beneath their feet, and the pair shuddered to a halt as they suddenly came to the horrible, sickening realisation of what was coming. The bridge beneath them trembled and they could hear the metal begin to squeal under the strain. Jack spun back to stare at Mark in terror and could see the half-Korean's face locked in the same expression. A sudden jolt beneath their feet spurred the two of them into action and both of them raced back the way they came, desperately trying to get back above some form of solid ground before the bridge collapsed.

At present, they were both situated above the abyss of Mesmeria's gridwork.

Rendering and tearing of metal tore through the area as the glass beneath their feet began to crack, every second bringing it closer to failure. The earthquake finally took a full hold and they barely heard Alix's scream of terror through their headsets before they felt the bridge give a noticeable drop beneath their feet.

Despite the distance separating them earlier, Jack had made it back to within ten metres of Mark before the bridge finally gave in under the strain, the supports breaking away from their mountings as the glass began to shatter.

" _No_ , _**no**!"_

Mark and Jack screeched, falling, as the bridge collapsed beneath them.

* * *

_**EMERGENCY** _

_**Mesmeria parameters critical, simulation stability at 7%.** _

_**Simulation collapse estimated in 35 minutes.** _

_**Evacuate simulation immediately.** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first, I'm going to hide under a rock for that awful cliffhanger. SORRY!
> 
> Secondly, I'd recommend you all re-read from when the group emerge on the 65th floor to when Jack and Mark crash on to the bridge after their escape while listening to Supercharger. That's the segment it inspired, and I've been dying to write it. I just hope it came out well!


	14. Who I Am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know I'm not going to be popular for that last chapter, and I think all of you are going to like me even less for what's coming up. Hold on to your asses!

"… _ **ack! Ma.."**_

Everything seemed muffled as sound gradually invaded Jack's head, and he winced at the ringing which flooded through his skull. His whole body ached in ways he hadn't even realised was possible until that moment, but at the same time he felt weightless. It was surreal. A slight smell of burning permeated his nostrils as his eyes slowly flickered from beneath his eyelids. The effort required to move, even so much as opening his eyes, felt beyond him.

"… _ **ome on! Gu…"**_

The vague voice sounded so distant that Jack almost dismissed it. At that moment, he was more concerned with trying to regain a sense of what had led to him laying here: wherever 'here' was.

As he tried to sit up slightly, he was shocked to discover he couldn't move. And then it all came crashing back in.

The earthquake. Alix's desperate cries, the rush to try and save her. Their bridge collapsing.

" _ **For fuck's sake guys,**_ _wake up_ _ **!"**_

Reality snapped back in instantly as Jack finally opened his eyes.

The roaring in his ears of a pounding headache made him wince as the sound finally cleared. Groaning metal and the crackling of electrical fires completed the riddle of the burning smell which was now threatening to make Jack choke, and he dry heaved in response. His bodily reaction was quickly rewarded with a lancing pain up his left arm and Jack screamed in response. When he looked over to see it the cause, he froze at seeing a large piece of the bridge was pinning his arm down from just above the elbow.

He guessed the fact he could still feel and move his left hand was a blessing. It so easily could have been much worse. At least he was just stuck, not crushed.

His eyes then turned to the wreckage of destroyed metal around him and Jack couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Right next to him as was larger segment of metal and glass, the wicked sharp edges of the glass reflecting in the fires burning a few metres away to his left. Up above, he could see the frantically glitching form of the digitized sky through some of the twisted railings. His gaze them shifted to his legs and Jack could see another long segment of the bridge resting right above them. A quick shuffle showed there was only a few inches of wiggle room, which was going to make breaking free incredibly difficult.

" _ **Jack! Jack, can you hear me?"**_

The Irishman groaned loudly at the voice, but was then confused as he realised it wasn't coming from his ear. It was…inside his head? "Matt?" he croaked.

" _ **Thank god you finally woke up, I was worried neither of you were going to in time."**_

"In time…?" Still slightly groggy, it took Jack a second or two to realise just what Matt was implying before it snapped back into place. " _Shit!_ Matt, what's the timer sitting at?"

" _ **23 minutes, you guys haven't got long!"**_

" _Fuck!_ " Jack tried to haul his left arm free and screeched in agony when he all but dislocated it from the effort. "Okay, that was a stupid bloody idea," he muttered to himself. "Matt, I'm pinned down. Where's Mark?"

" _ **He's still out cold, but his vital signs are looking a fair bit worse than yours."**_

Jack's stomach knotted in fear. "Shit, where is he?"

" _ **Six metres northwest of you, I can't tell your orientation right now."**_

The Irishman strained his neck to try and catch a glimpse of the server hub, but when he did his breath caught in his chest. One whole side of the glass pyramid was now shattered, and the tower which stood atop it was completely gone. It was clear to see that it had collapsed and fallen into the pyramid before tumbling into the abyss.

Jack refused to think of what had become of Alix had she still been trapped inside.

He instead shouted the pyramid's position to Matt. "The server hub is right behind my head, Matt." As he did so, he stretched up with his good arm to try and take a hold of one of the ruined railings above him.

" _ **Mark is to your forward and right, more the right. Can you break free?"**_

"Working on it," Jack hissed as he tried to stretch up another inch or two to grab the metal. He finally got a good grasp of it and hauled it down, trying to coil up in a feeble attempt at shielding himself when it disturbed some debris. Jack coughed harshly as some dust landed over him, but that was all. Giving the metal a long stare, Jack found a sharp edge which he could use to stab under the debris pinning his arm down.

With his left arm trapped, Jack knew he wasn't going to have the strength to lift the metalwork with just his right, especially at such an awkward angle. Instead, he lifted his body up to slip the improvised lever underneath himself, jamming it into the gap between the impediment and the street beneath him. Taking a deep breath for courage, Jack slammed his body back down as he pushed down as hard as he could with his right arm.

He roared in frustration when the railing slipped, the scream rising into agonised pain when it shifted the debris to now rest more firmly on his arm. Dragging in another shaky breath, he tried again, yelling out with all his voice as he desperately tried to free his arm from the metal prison.

It gave under the second assault and Jack snatched his limb back before collapsing down, exhausted. He hissed as the blood rushed back into it, but other than a few bruises, the arm was okay. Now with both upper appendages again, Jack finally managed to slide out from the bridge fragments which were covering his legs and carefully got back to his feet, eyes scanning the nearby area. " _Mark!_ " he shouted, coughing as some of the acrid smoke invaded his lungs. _"Mark, come on, dude!"_

The lack of answer made Jack's fear double. "Matt, you said his vitals were looking in worse shape than mine. What's happening?"

" _ **His blood pressure is dropping steadily. I think he's bleeding."**_

"Crap, with the mess of the bridge collapse, he could be impaled by something."

" _ **That's what happened? By the time I woke back up, you guys had already been knocked out."**_

"Yeah, earthquake all but tore this place apart. It's-" A limp hand hanging above a piece of metalwork caused Jack's heart to jump into his throat. "Mark! Shit!"

He rushed over and grabbed it, willing a response. "Come on, Mark, wake up!" Jack carefully lifted the bridge remnant off the other man's body, relieved to see he wasn't seriously hurt: until his eyes fell to his legs, that is. "Fuck…that's going to be a big problem."

" _ **Jack, what's wrong with him?"**_

"His leg's badly broken. At least two places, he won't even be able to put weight on it."

"… _ **Can you make some sort of splint for it? I dare not think what other damage might be done by the broken bones if it's left limp."**_

"Yeah, gimme a sec." Looking around, Jack could see a couple of the pieces of railing were still reasonably straight, though the lengths were quite different. One ran from Mark's ankle to halfway up his thigh, while the other would stretch up past his hip. Knowing he didn't have much of a choice, Jack placed them either side of Mark's leg and then started tearing at his coat. He managed to rip apart seven strips of fabric and set about securing the metal to Mark's leg as tight as he could. The red slick underneath made Jack feel sick, but he was glad to see it wasn't a large puddle. There wasn't a danger Mark would bleed out before their time elapsed, one way or the other.

"Okay, I think that should do it. Time?"

" _ **18 minutes. There's an elevator fifty metres to your left, Jack. It connects right next to the escape pods according to the schematics of Mesmeria. If you get there, you should be able to make a run for the portal."**_

"Gotcha. I can't carry Mark though…" Jack bit his lip nervously before deciding his course of actions. "Shit, sorry for this, dude."

An almighty slap rang out through the area, but it did the trick. Mark's eyes snapped open as he tried to sit up with a shout, but the sudden assault of searing pain from his broken leg and slapped face made his world spin. He groaned loudly as Jack grabbed his left arm and hauled him up to a sitting position. "Fuck…" Mark grumbled, head still reeling.

"Sorry, Mark, but we need to get the fuck out of here now," Jack explained through gritted teeth as he got Mark to bend his good leg, and then dragged them both up to a standing position.

Mark screamed as his leg shifted and looked down at it in confusion. "What the…?"

"Your leg broke from the fall. At least it was the one that was already bad, right? We'd be in a lot worse shape if it had been the other way round," Jack informed him as he switched over to Mark's right hand side so that his crippled leg was on the outside. "Think you can hop along if I take most of the weight?"

"…Do I have much of a choice?"

Jack acknowledged the point silently and he helped Mark pick his way through the debris of the collapsed bridge, thanking their lucky stars that they'd fallen over a street. They weren't that far from the abyss below and had the bridge given out a few seconds earlier, Jack at the very least would have fallen in. It took a fair bit of effort with Mark's injury to weave their way through, but a couple of minutes later saw them clear and Jack picked up the pace so that they could rush to the elevator.

As they reached it and the doors slid open, Mark leaned against one of the glass walls inside while Jack punched in their destination. Another rumble, low this time, caused the area to shake, but neither man acknowledged it. After what they'd just survived, this was child's play. "Sean, what happened?" Mark asked wearily.

"I don't know," Jack replied honestly. "I only woke up a few minutes before you to Matt screaming at us."

"Matt?"

" _ **I'm here, Mark."**_

The familiar voice allowed some of the tension to drain out of Mark's body, immensely relieved to hear that he was all right. "You made it out okay…" he sighed gladly.

" _ **Yeah, I'm out cleanly. Alix did it. Looks like everything went to hell after that though – by the time I made it to surveying Mesmeria, you two were unconscious. You got lucky, from what I can tell. That bridge was twelve metres above the street you landed on, but you were above another bridge only five metres away. My guess is you hit that first before crashing to the ground below."**_

Mark and Jack watched as their elevator slowed down, and then started travelling horizontally to bring them to the correct area of the map. "Matt…" Jack started with a hollow voice. "What happened to her?"

Matt took his time in answering. _**"I can't say, Jack. All I can tell you is that her player status is now registering as inactive…"**_

Jack's hand fisted into a tight ball, tears threatening at his eyes. " _Fuck,"_ he swore under his breath, guilt thick in the tone. There was only one logical conclusion.

Alix was gone, and it was Anti's fault. _His_ fault. His fucked up sub-personality has trapped her in that crumbling tower, and now she was-

"Sean." The sharp tone and the hand to Jack's shoulder stopped his rapidly spiralling thoughts. "We don't know anything, all right? Alix managed to hack her player status before in Glaysha to make herself appear inactive. She may just have done the same thing again." Mark's words helped Jack cling on to that last sliver of hope. "Regardless of what has happened to her, we need to get out of here first, okay? We can't help her if we go down with Mesmeria."

The Irishman took a deep breath through gritted teeth before nodding sharply. Mark prayed that his words weren't just an empty consoling thought. If Alix really was gone forever, he knew Jack would never forgive himself.

Their elevator slowing to a stop caused the conversation to grind to a halt, and Jack swiftly took Mark's right arm back over his shoulders. Mark hissed in pain as they stumbled out of the elevator and turned to stare at the portal, but both their breath caught as they saw it was no longer unguarded.

Four sentries were now surrounding the white inferno, while another twenty or so were hanging around nearby.

"Well, that's a problem," Mark breathed out heavily.

Jack glared at them angrily. "This is that glitchy fuck's doing. How are we going to get past them? We lost all our weapons in the bridge collapse."

Mark went suspiciously silent for a second or two. "Sean, use me as a distraction. If I get their attention, you can make a break for the portal."

The Irishman looked at him disapprovingly. "Mark, I know I've said this in jest before, but right now I'm being dead serious. Don't be such a fucking idiot."

"Sean, I'm crippled. My leg is beyond useless, and my head is spinning. You can get out of here."

Jack slipped out from under Mark's arm and leaned him against a wall. "Mark, do yourself a favour and shut up before I punch you," he snapped before striding away angrily. He hated the fact that Mark was actually thinking of offering himself as a decoy to try and let him escape. A sudden thought came to his head, and he made sure he was far enough away so that Mark wouldn't overheard him speaking. "Matt, did you hear all that?"

" _ **Yeah, I heard it. Is Mark really in that bad shape?"**_

"He's rough, but he's nowhere near that dire. He could make the distance from here to the portal with some form of support. How many of the machines are around?"

" _ **Almost thirty, Jack. I don't know how you are going to get past them."**_

"Do you know if Alix managed to re-route power to the security block?"

" _ **I have no idea. Why?"**_

"Alix found a console in there that she was sure would power the sentries down. If I can get to it and it's active, then we can shut all these bastards off."

" _ **Well, whatever you're going to do, it's going to have to be fast, Jack. You've only got 11 minutes until Mesmeria goes."**_

"Right…" Jack looked back at Mark, seeing how the half-Korean's face was scrunched in pain and came to his decision. Seeing some twisted metal dumped in a pile of rubbish nearby, Jack quickly fished it out and handed it to Mark. "All right, dude. You'd better keep a good hold of this while I get to work. Keep out of sight until the coast is clear."

Mark realised Jack was about to attempt something and swiftly grabbed a tight hold of his wrist. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where the fuck are you going?" he demanded.

"The security block, to turn these fuckers off. It's the only chance we've got."

The older man frantically shook his head. "No way, Sean! That's suicide, you won't make it without any weapons! Look, there isn't a way out of here for both of us. Just leave me behind and get yourself out."

Jack glared at him and snatched his wrist away, stepping back. "Not a chance, Mark. I'd never do that."

Mark's eyes turned pleading. "Sean, don't do this. You'll never survive!"

The Irishman smiled warmly. "Stupid ideas and little-to-no self-regard? Yep, sounds like the crazy shit I'd pull. I thought you'd know by now Mark, that's just who I am," he finished with a wink. Mark did know Jack though, and he knew what was _really_ running through his mind.

This was Jack proving that he was the opposite of Anti. While the glitch was entirely selfish and would hurt anyone to get what he wants, Jack was willing to do all he could to save someone in need. Even if it meant putting his own life at incredible risk.

" _ **10 minutes!"**_

Jack gave Mark one last unsure smile, the fear in his eyes flashing through briefly as he looked behind to make sure the coast was clear. "See you soon, Mark," he said before sprinting out into the plaza.

" _Sean, no!"_

It was too late, however, as Jack had already burst free and was swiftly stalking along the edge of the glass plateau. His heart was thundering in his chest as he dashed between sections of cover as fast as he dared. The time limit was now hanging heavy in his mind and he couldn't afford the time to be truly careful. Mark watched with bated breath from the shelter of the alley as Jack quickly began to pass out of his sight. "Sean, you'd better not get yourself killed," he whispered lowly, his gut coiling tight in dread.

He couldn't stop thinking that this was going to go so, _so_ wrong.

Jack came to a skidding halt at the opposite end of the plaza, chest heaving from the combination of the tension in his body and exhaustion in his battered body. The compounding effects of all his injuries from their time in Mesmeria were talking their toll and he was now more drained than he had ever felt before. He couldn't stop though. If either he or Mark were to have any chance of getting out of the crumbling world around them, he had to make it to that control panel and turn the sentries off.

Taking a few seconds to breathe, he sprinted inside the building when he saw it was clear and raced up to the second floor. Fortunately, none of the sentries were patrolling indoors and he managed to reach the security office in question without delay. Not trusting that he'd be free of company in the long term, however, he swiped the door closed and yanked out the battery at the side.

He ran towards the console and began examining it, wishing Alix were there with him. She would know what he was looking for.

" _ **You've got 8 minutes left, Jack. Any luck with that kill switch?"**_

"Working on it, Matt. This shit doesn't come as easy to me as it does to you and Alix," he answered sharply, panic starting to set in at the thought of only 8 minutes being left. Another small rumble could be felt in the ground beneath him but Jack ignored it. This wasn't the time.

" _ **Try running a search in the programs, Jack. If Alix was right, it should be high priority and be easy to find."**_

Not having a better idea, Jack did as Matt suggested and brought up a search window. Without no idea what terms to search for, he instead brought the recent commands used in chronological order, remembering that Alix had tried the kill command before without success. He was amazed to see the program as the last one initiated from the terminal.

The knot in his chest finally began to lessen as he clicked on it and typed in for the program to run. "That's it! Come on, please let this work…"

* * *

In the alley below, Mark listened to their conversation through the haze of pain slowly taking over his mind. The combined blood loss and agony blazing from his leg, along with a slow burn along the back of his head which he suspected may be a concussion, was causing his concentration to waver. He heard as Jack started searching for the program and shook his head, willing himself to stay in the moment. They couldn't afford for him to pass out now.

_Just keep it together for a few minutes more…_

Jack's scream of the kill switch being activated commanded all of Mark's attention, and he watched as the sentries all suddenly stopped moving. They shuddered for a second or two before they all went slack, deactivated.

" _ **Mark, go!"**_

Matt's voice was all the reassurance Mark needed and he held himself up on the jagged metal, hopping along unsteadily to the stairs which led up to the portal. Casting the debris aside, he went to his hands and stumbled his way up, falling over with a pained gasp when his useless leg caught the edge of the top step. With his head swimming under the sudden assault of pain, Mark stretched upward and hauled himself along the ground to finally make contact with the white flame.

In the outside world, Matt was watching frantically from the main control console of the Dreamscape. Since coming to and realising the danger his friends were still in, he'd brought up every screen he could think of. Maps, schematics of the buildings in Mesmeria, player statuses, the timer counting down the collapse of the simulation…they had not brought him much consolation as he had tried to frantically wake the other two. Their vital signs fluctuating on their monitors had been hard to watch, and Matt had been left feeling helpless. He couldn't do anything to really help them now, all he could do was be a supportive voice and keep them up-to-date with the time left.

Seeing the player status flash across another screen of Mark exiting the simulation brought him immense relief. Jack's gamble clearly paid off if Mark was free, and a last look at the map confirmed a lack of signals around the portal. The Irishman had successfully used the shutdown command. "Yes! Jack, you did it, Mark's out!" He heard a shaky exhale in reply from inside the Dreamscape.

Matt's eyes drifted to the timer and he saw it ticking down slowly.

_**Mesmeria parameters in failure, simulation stability at 1%** _

_**Simulation collapse in 00:00:05:36** _

_**Simulation collapse in 00:00:05:35** _

_**Simulation collapse in 00:00:05:34** _

Jack had made it to the security block in two minutes. He could get back out in that same time. Matt breathed a sigh of relief as he let his head hang. Mark would be awake in just over a minute, his brain signals were slowly picking up again as his consciousness was transferred back to his body.

An alarm blaring overhead made his heart turn to lead and breath freeze.

Matt saw the screen with the timer flash red at him and he quickly scanned it again, his voice catching in his throat briefly. " _No, no,_ _ **no!**_ _Not now!"_

_**Mesmeria parameters failed, simulation stability at 0%** _

_**Simulation terminating** _

_**Data loss imminent** _

* * *

From within the simulation, Jack stood and waited to hear from Matt before trying to make a break for the portal. He was going to wait and give the command another try if it didn't work the first time. There was no way he was going to let Mark down without giving it his all. As it flickered in front of him, Jack snorted and hung his head. "Didn't think you'd stay away forever," he sneered coldly. "Not had enough fun yet?"

Anti laughed. _"Oh, Jack-a-boy, you think_ _ **this**_ _would ever satisfy me? I'll only be content once I have your body and I'm free."_

Jack's eyes raised to the screen and he glared hatefully at it. "Not a chance, you bastard. You'll never have me, I'll never give in to you."

" _If you had done, she might still be here. How does it feel to have her death on your head?"_

He inhaled sharply and clenched his eyes shut, refusing to let Anti see his swirling emotions. The glitch knew how to hit where it fucking hurt. "You son of a bitch… _why?_ She wasn't part of this!"

" _She's interfered enough, and I needed some payback for Glaysha. Never mind what it does to your mentality, princess. It was worth letting Matt go to end her, your little run to try and save her was priceless."_

"You bastard-"

" _ **Yes! Jack, you did it, Mark's out!"**_

Jack's sighed in relief before his face morphed into triumph at Matt's words, the anger ebbing away. "You lose, Anti. They're free, and I've still got a few minutes to make my own run. Sure it was worth letting Matt go?"

His confidence fled at the smirk he could hear in Anti's voice. _"What makes you think I didn't let Mark go too? After all…it brought you right to me."_

"Wha-"

Another vicious earthquake tore through the area and Jack barely stayed on his feet, grasping onto the console to keep himself upright. Now he was legitimately scared. They were never a good sign.

" _ **Jack! Mesmeria is collapsing! You've got to get out**_ _now!"_

He could hear the panic in Matt's voice and Jack ran for the door, grasping frantically at the battery which was lying loose in his pocket. He really wished he hadn't removed it now. Anti's laughter rang through the area as Jack fought to re-insert it in the socket. " _You idiot! I_ _ **control**_ _this place, I dictate when this world dies. And now…You're mine, Jack._ _ **Mine!"**_

Jack didn't waste his breath replying and instead squeezed his way out of the opening doors, sprinting as fast as he could for the stairs. He could hear the world around him crumbling, _feel_ it.

_Faster, faster, faster. Come on!_

His breath was pounding in his ears as he ran with all his might, ignoring the glitch's taunts from above.

" _That's it, Jack. Run! Fight! Just try! It's far too late!"_

The maniacal laughter went right through him but he didn't stop. Couldn't. Mesmeria was going, and he was about to be lost with it if he didn't hurry.

 _Fucking come_ _**on!** _

Jack sped from the stairs to the front door and didn't even pause as he raced on to the glass plateau. Everything was crumbling on all sides, even the sky was falling towards him as the framework of the simulation was destroyed.

" _ **Jack, you've got to move it!"**_

He forced himself onwards on burning legs, seeing the white fire ahead. It was his way out, the way home. It was so close…

Fragments of the sky and buildings around him impacted the glass surface of the plaza, cracking it and compromising its integrity as Jack made his desperate sprint. It didn't take long before it shattered under the strain, and the cascading wave of breaking glass advanced on Jack faster than he could run. He was now only about twenty metres away, just a few seconds.

_That's it, come on!_

The surface beneath his feet vanished in a rain of glass.

His momentum carried him forward, but Jack could feel himself begin to fall. The world moved in slow motion for a few seconds as he first felt weightlessness take him, stretching desperately for the way home which only just beyond his reach, only to have everything suddenly race back to normal speed as he saw it grow more distant. " _No,_ _ **no!**_ " he screeched as he grasped towards it, but he was now falling faster and faster away from it, amongst the hail of the ruined world.

With his momentum continuing his advance forwards, Jack saw himself pass under the flame and then crashed into a fragment of a crumbling skyscraper. His head slammed into it hard and caused everything around him to spin as he felt his consciousness slipping away.

His eyes barely caught sight of the white slowly growing smaller and smaller in the distance before darkness enclosed on him.

Anti's laughter of triumph rang through the dying world as Jack hurtled into the blackness below, falling with the ruins.

* * *

Matt was desperately typing on the keyboard, trying to find any way to stop the failure of Mesmeria while Jack was still inside. He knew it could go at any second, and he dared not think what fate would befall Jack if he was still trapped in the Dreamscape when Mesmeria was destroyed. The screens continued to flash at Matt, warning him of Mesmeria's collapse as another command box flashed up to warm him that the Dreamscape matrix was overheating. "Crap, no, no, no!" he yelled, hoping there was something, _anything_ he could do to buy Jack the few seconds he might need.

A blaring from a monitor beside Jack had Matt's heart jumping into his throat and he rushed over when he saw Jack's body start to convulse, his vitals going berserk. Jack's heart was racing dangerously fast while his brain activity was spiking, and Matt tried to hold him down to stop the trembling. "Come on, Jack!" he shouted desperately.

The wiring above Matt grew too hot and the segment shorted out in a hail of sparks, causing Matt to duck away for cover. He pulled away for only a second, enough to make sure nothing was catching fire, but when his attention turned back he could see Jack's body had stopped moving. His hope that it was for the right reasons died instantly when he looking up to the in-game vitals, only to be greeted with a message that terrified him.

_**Signal Lost** _

"No. No, no, no, _no!_ This can't be happening!" he screamed frantically, looking to the emitters on Jack's temples. Rather than their stand-by yellow or active blue, they were a solid red from the lost connection. "Jack! _Jack!_ " Matt shook his shoulders in panic, but nothing happened. His eyes lifted to the monitors tracking Jack's vitals up above. His breathing and heartrate were as if he was still in the simulation, but his brain activity and in-game vitals both showed the same message.

Matt sped back to the main control console and saw the whole mess of error messages that had popped up, every additional line making his heart sink even further.

_**/./ Dreamscape Systems Damaged** _

_**/./ Critical Errors In Hardware Elements 6678 through 7145** _

_**/./ Terminal Errors In H:Drive Segments 54-72-21 through 54-73-87** _

_**/./ Terminal Errors In L:Drive Segments 22-31-53 through 22-31-68** _

_**/./ Data Corruption Detected In Following Drives: B, D, G, H, L, R, T** _

_**/./ Dreamscape Uplinks Inoperative** _

He stared numbly at the words, barely able to make head nor tails of them. So much of it was way above his head, but he could understand enough. The Dreamscape was badly damaged, and a lot of information had been lost. As his mind slowly tried to absorb the words, the implications began to sink in.

_Is Jack in that data corruption? What happened to him? Is he safe?_

_Can we even get him back?_

"Matt?"

Mark's voice cut through his thoughts like an icy knife, and Matt knew from Mark's reaction that he was probably white as sheet. "Matt, what happened?" he asked slowly, unsteadily sitting up in the chair. Mark was very wobbly, and he could still feel the echoes of the pain which had followed him out. It was highly disconcerting.

Matt had to make a couple of attempts before his voice finally engaged. "Jack didn't make it out, Mark," he at last managed to say through the clog in his throat.

The half-Korean's eyes went wide and he swore his heart stopped for a second. "Matt, what do you mean?" he whispered, looking over from his pod to see the Irishman still in his comatose state.

"Jack's mind was still in Mesmeria when it collapsed; it just came out of nowhere! He had well over five minutes and then all of a sudden-" Matt's voice finally clamped again and he looked away, distraught.

Mark stared at Jack numbly. _No._ "Matt, what happened to him?" When he didn't get an answer, Mark's next sentence broke into a screech. " _Where is he?!_ "

Matt's eyes shone with frustrated tears as he turned back. "I don't know, Mark. The Dreamscape is damaged, I can't access it. We…we don't know anything."

Standing on shaky legs, Mark wandered over to Jack's side and saw the messages on the monitors himself. His hands fisted together in rage, frustration, fear and heartache as he continued to stare at them, his heart growing heavier by the second.

_Sean…Where are you?_

Mark looked back down at his face again and tried not to let the emotions overwhelm him, but it was difficult. For all they knew, Jack was-

He stopped that thought before it even started. He was alive inside the Dreamscape, somewhere. He _had_ to be.

_Hang on, Sean. We're going to find you. I promise._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummm…So…Yeah…I did that. Yep, I did that. And this is where I rapidly hide from the pitchforks when I say that this is the end of I Am Me.
> 
> I'm sorry! *hides in bomb shelter*
> 
> And in case anyone is wondering, this has been the plan since I decided the Dreamscape series was going to be 3 parts. Part 3 is going to be insane, and you'll get answers to a lot of the unresolved questions from this fic.
> 
> So, if you want to get notified of when the third part of this series goes live - Ghost In The Machine - feel free to subscribe to the series. Hope to see lots of you there!
> 
> Please don't hate me, I didn't want to do it. Honest!


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